Tipsheet

Democrat Connecticut Senate Candidate: "Life Begins at Birth"

In Thursday's debate between Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican Linda McMahon in the race for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat, Murphy said in response to a direct question that he thought that life begins at birth.

This is a surprising statement, and one quite out of sync with the beliefs of most Americans. In last week's Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden said that he believes that life begins at conception - a view held by many religious Americans. Many more Americans believe that life begins at fetal viability - very, very few agree with Murphy that life only begins at birth.

Murphy went on to say that he supports restrictions on late-term abortion with exceptions. The stance that human life only begins at birth, however, may raise troubling questions about protecting the unborn for Murphy.