Pete Buttigieg on Sunday defended criticism of his exchange with a pro-life Democrat at a town hall two weeks ago, saying he respected the voter’s opinion, but wouldn’t change his own just to win her vote.
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” the Democratic presidential primary contender Buttigieg was asked about his remarks to Kristen Day, executive director of “Democrats for Life,” who asked him whether there was room in the party for pro-lifers like her.
“I respect where you’re coming from and I hope to earn your vote but I’m not going to try to earn your vote by tricking you,” he told Day, a clip of the exchange played by Fox News Sunday show host Chris Wallace showed.
“I was trying to show her the respect of being honest with her,” Buttigieg told Wallace.
“She is very welcome to join this effort. I hope voters like her do. But I’m not going to support the criminalization of women and doctors to get her vote… this is very important to me to respect women’s right to choose.”
Pressed on whether the Democratic tent was big enough to hold pro-life voters, he added:
“Being pro-life means also making sure that children can grow up and be healthy… [that] there’s maternal care… [that] there’s nutrition. If we can agree on that much, then perhaps she can support me. If not, I respect that.”
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