Self-proclaimed 'pro-choice pastor' Democrat Sen. Warnock won't say if he supports any limits on abortion

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VP Harris says Americans don't need to 'abandon their faith' for abortion

VP Harris says Americans don't need to 'abandon their faith' for abortion

As abortion remains a midterm focus, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., will not say if he supports any limitations on abortion after referring to himself as the "pro-choice pastor" and cosponsoring the Democrats Women's Health Protection Act.

"As a pro-choice pastor, I’ve always believed that a patient's room is way too small for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government," said Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, in a tweet after the classified Dobbs ruling was leaked.

Fox News Digital reached out to Warnock, who is currently competing in one of the most closely watched Senate races this cycle against GOP nominee and pro-life advocate Herschel Walker, asking if he supported any limitations on abortion after sponsoring the major pro-abortion legislation. Warnock did not respond.

Asked by reporters at a news conference in Atlanta last week if he would accept any federal limitations on access to abortion, Warnock would only say, "Women have seen a core constitutional right of theirs that they’ve known now for half a century undermined by an activist court."

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Asked again, Warnock answered, "I think that we’ve got to explore all options to protect this core constitutional principal."

Warnock has repeatedly taken aim at Walker over the issue, arguing last week that "my opponent has wasted no time supporting a national ban, a national ban with no exceptions. So that includes rape, incest and the health of the mother."

The WHPA legislation contained a provision that would allow no restrictions "on abortion at any point or points in time prior to fetal viability, including a prohibition or restriction on a particular abortion procedure."

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The abortion bill also would make it impossible to place limitations "on abortion after fetal viability when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health." 

The vague definition of the term "health" has been questioned, after Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the Democrat who originally introduced the WHPA, said during a press conference in 2013 that the legislation "doesn't distinguish" between health being physical, or a psychological or emotional state of mind.

The text defines viability as the point of pregnancy at which "there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained fetal survival outside the uterus with or without artificial support." Fetal viability usually falls around the sixth month, or 24th week, of pregnancy.

Raphael G. Warnock is the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Georgia. (Curtis Compton-Pool)

"Just over 100 days after the historic Dobbs victory, two dozen states are poised to save as many as 200,000 lives a year by protecting unborn children and their mothers from the violence of abortion," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in an exclusive statement on the pro-abortion bill. "The Democrats’ deceptively named "Women’s Health Protection Act" would wipe out virtually all pro-life laws — state or federal — and impose an unlimited ‘right’ to abortion on demand until birth, paid for by the taxpayer, nationwide."

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"This bill has failed four times in Congress because it is extreme and deeply unpopular. The majority of Americans support limits on abortion, but Biden and radical Democrats continue to put the abortion lobby agenda over the will of Americans," she continued.

Dannenfelser stressed the importance of raising the question to midterm candidates and asking them exact where they "draw the line" on abortion. 

"Voters deserve the truth about Democrats’ abortion extremism, which is why we urge journalists and pro-life candidates to demand where, if at all, they would draw a line to protect an unborn human life. Thus far, Democrats across the country have refused to name a single limit on abortion that they support — even commonsense limits on abortion after 15 weeks, a point when unborn children feel pain, which the overwhelming majority of Americans support," Dannenfelser said.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a non-profit that supports pro-life political candidates. (Joshua Comins)

The purpose of the WHPA act is described in the text as an effort "to permit health care providers to provide abortion services without limitations or requirements that single out the provision of abortion services for restrictions that are more burdensome than those restrictions imposed on medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or the safety of abortion services, and make abortion services more difficult to access."

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Several Democratic lawmakers have cosponsored the bill and push for pro-abortion legislation, but refuse to explain exactly what, if any, restrictions they would support. 

Democratic candidates have highlighted abortion in their campaigns this cycle, following the Supreme Court decision to overrun Roe v. Wade and return the power to place restrictions on abortion to the states.