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DeSantis Corrects NBC's Dasha Burns on Pro-Abortion Lies

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  August 09, 2023 9:00 AM

On Tuesday, it was announced that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was looking to "reload" his presidential campaign via some staffing changes, with James Uthmeier coming on as campaign manager. A hearty effort at a "reload" has been happening for some time, though, as DeSantis has been opening himself up to more interviews with mainstream media outlets who might not be as friendly. This includes with NBC's Dasha Burns, and the governor was not afraid to fact-check her when it came to false pro-abortion talking points.

When asked if he would veto an abortion ban at the federal level, DeSantis affirmed "we will be a pro-life president and support pro-life policies." He also made a case for himself by drawing a distinction with the very pro-abortion Democratic Party. "I would not allow what a lot of the Left wants to do, which is to override pro-life protections throughout the country all the way up to the moment of birth in some instances, which I think is infanticide," DeSantis added. 

Becoming more of an abortion activist, Burns interrupted the governor to state "well actually, I gotta push back on you on that," claiming "that's a misrepresentation of what's happening" because "I mean, 1.3 percent of abortions happen at 21-weeks or higher." 

The governor's point, however, was not "a misrepresentation" at all, not only because the Democratic Party does advocate for such abortion policies, but also because his response said nothing about how many abortions occur at what stage. 

DeSantis stuck to his guns, as he in turn pushed back against Burns. "But their view is that all the way up to that, there should not be any legal indications," he said about Democrats. 

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"There is no indications of Democrats pushing for that," Burns inaccurately responded.  

The ignorance, and activism, from Burns is embarrassing here. DeSantis had been accurately describing the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would not merely codify the Roe v. Wade decision, as its supporters--including the White House--claim. It would expand it by invalidating the pro-life laws on the books and making abortion available through all nine months of pregnancy throughout the country for any reason without legal limit.

Although the WHPA could not gain a majority of votes in the Senate for the previous Congress, let alone make it past the filibuster, it did pass in the House, which was also under Democratic control at the time. The only Democrat to vote against it in the Senate was West Virginia's Joe Manchin, and in the House, Texas' Henry Cuellar.

Examples abound at the state level, too, for expanding abortions, as NewsBusters' Curtis Houck pointed out in a thread over Twitter on Monday, which our friends at Twitchy included in their coverage. Mentioned in his thread are Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, and New York. All states are governed by Democrats. 

There's also several states, as well as Washington, D.C., where women can get an abortion up until birth, in other words way past the limit that Burns mentioned. They include Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Of those states plus D.C., only Alaska, Montana, and Vermont are governed by Republicans. 

Colorado's Gov. Jared Polis misled on last year's bill when it comes to whether or not it would allow for abortions up until birth, which it does. He then still defended third-trimester abortions. 

That Burns' point that 1.3 percent of abortions occur after 21-weeks is accurate, but irrelevant. Further, that 1.3 percent figure, which comes from the Guttmacher Institute for 2017, still means that approximately 11,210 abortions took place at this stage. And these are just estimates.

Abortions that take place past 21-weeks may involve a Dilation & Extraction abortion method, if before 24-weeks. That procedure involves dismemberment and crushing the baby's skull so as to remove the body parts. Later in pregnancy, including when the unborn child is viable and can survive outside of the womb, a woman may go through induction in which she delivers a dead baby who would have received of digoxin or potassium chloride to induce a fatal heart attack. 

DeSantis had also pointed to the Democrats' support for infanticide. As it turns out, that's also an accurate claim. Even when Republicans controlled the Senate, not enough Democrats voted to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act for it to overcome the filibuster.

Upon the start of the 118th Congress in January, the Republican-controlled House passed such legislation, with only Cuellar voting in favor of it, and fellow Texan Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez voting present. 

In her time as speaker, the supposedly "very Catholic" Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refused to even bring the bill to the floor for a vote. Over in the Senate, still under Democratic control, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has made clear he won't let it come up for a vote either. 

Of course, who can forget how then Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) advocated for infanticide in January 2019. "If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen," he said during a radio program. "The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother." 

Then Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT) vetoed legislation protecting children from failed abortion attempts in 2019, as did Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC). 

Unfortunately, Burns' ignorance looks to be contagious. On Tuesday, CNN's Dana Bash claimed that "I have not talked to a Democrat who wants abortion on demand until time of birth." This is even after she spoke to now Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) just last September, who has been a vocal supporter of the WHPA since his time on the campaign trail, and who expressed he does not believe there should be restrictions on abortions.

Who else interviewed Fetterman during last year's Senate run? Burns, who was heavily criticized for her more hard hitting interview that dared to take a deep dive look at the now senator's health concerns following a stroke revealed in May of last year, just before he won his primary.