Xavier Becerra Dodges Questions about His Voting Record on Partial-Birth Abortion and Abortion Policy

Xavier Becerra, an infamous abortion activist who utilizes his position as Attorney General of California to push pro-abortion policy, is currently President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This week, he testified in front of several Senate committees in an attempt to persuade Republicans and other conservative members that his history of supporting radical pro-abortion policy won’t affect his role.

In an exchange with Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Becerra was asked if he would name any type of abortion restriction that he would support.

“Is there any line you would draw?” Daines asked. “Is there just one, just one restriction as it relates to abortion that you might support?”

Becerra mostly sidestepped the issue and focused on how he has upheld the law, i.e., Roe v. Wade, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and other pro-abortion policies.

“I have tried to make sure that I am abiding by the law because, whether it is a particular restriction or whether it’s the whole idea of abortion, whether we agree or not, we have to come to some conclusion,” Becerra said. “And that’s where the law gives us a place to go.”

While serving as a congressman for the state of California, Becerra voted in favor of continuing the practice of partial-birth abortions, where the abortionist would partially deliver a living child before killing him or her by crushing the skull and sucking out the brain. It’s now been banned in this country. In many ways, the practice was not much different than what Kermit Gosnell did to the babies born alive in his clinic after a failed abortion. But instead of crushing the skull, he would “snip” their neck. He was eventually convicted of second-degree murder.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, questioned Becerra regarding his voting history on this topic.

“Most people agree that partial-birth abortion is awful. You voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion. Why?” Romney asked.

“I understand that people have different deeply held beliefs on this issue,” Becerra responded. “And I respect that. As Attorney General my job has been to follow the law and make sure that others are following the law. … I understand that we may not always agree on where to go, but I think we can find some common ground on these issues because everyone wants to make sure that if you have an opportunity, you’re gonna have a healthy life.” 

Becerra then said that he hoped to work with Romney and others to find “common ground.”

“I think we can reach common ground on many issues. But on partial-birth abortion, it sounds like we’re not going to reach common ground there,” Romney said.

In another exchange, Sen. Jon Thune, R-S.D., challenged why Becerra has “spent an inordinate amount of time and effort suing pro-life organizations, like Little Sisters of the Poor or trying to ease restrictions and expand abortion.”

Becerra responded, “I have never sued any nuns – I have taken on the federal government, but I have never sued any affiliation of nuns. My actions have always been directed at federal agencies because they have been trying to do things that are contrary to the law in California and it’s my job to defend the rights of my state and uphold the law.”

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., refuted Becerra’s assertion, stating, “(It’s) a pretty interesting way of re-framing your bullying. You actually sued the federal government who had given an exemption to the nuns. Can you explain to us what the Little Sisters of the Poor were doing wrong?”

“We never alleged that the Little Sisters of the Poor did anything wrong,” Becerra replied. “Our problem was that the federal government was not abiding by the law as we saw it, so what we did was we took action against the federal government so California could administer its programs to make sure that the Affordable Care Act continued to work.”

“A complete nonsense answer,” Sasse said in response.

Becerra returns to Capitol Hill next week for an additional hearing with the Finance Committee before his nomination goes before the whole Senate.

Photo from Sipa USA/REUTERS