NBC News has taken an aggressive stance against the leading GOP presidential candidates, falsely asserting their criticism of Democrats' support for late-term abortion is without merit.
On Sunday's "Meet the Press," former President Trump railed against the "radical people" in the Democratic Party who say "after five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, and even after birth, you're allowed to terminate the baby."
"Mr. President, Democrats aren't saying that," NBC host Kristen Welker interjected. "I just have to- Democrats are not saying that. That's not true."
"Of course they do. You have a Virginia governor, previous governor, who said, ‘After the baby is born, you will make a determination, and if you want, you will kill that baby.’ The baby is now born," Trump said, paraphrasing the controversial 2019 comments made by then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
"But Mr. President, Democrats writ large are not talking about that. Only 1% of late-term abortions happen, and always in the state of crisis," Welker shot back, providing context irrelevant to Trump's argument.
After Trump repeated his attack on Democrats, Welker continued pushing back.
"Again, no one is arguing for that," Welker said. "That's not a part of anyone's platform, Mr. President."
"The Democrats are able to kill the baby after birth," Trump doubled down. "Nobody wants that."
"Democrats don't want that," Welker replied.
Following another assertion made by Trump about Democrats' support for late-term abortion, Welker provided a "fact-check" to her viewers.
"One important fact-check that we do want to highlight. Abortions later in pregnancy are exceedingly rare," Welker told viewers, which, again, doesn't actually contradict what the former president said.
Welker faced a flury of criticism from conservatives.
"The media tries to hide this horrific human rights abuse, but the facts cannot be denied," Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life group Live Action, told FOX News Digital.
FOX News contributor Guy Benson slammed Welker's "biased performance," saying she "sounded indistinguishable an abortion advocate."
"She's wrong. That is, quite literally, the Democrat Party's current position on abortion, as evidenced by actual votes and legislation," Benson wrote on Townhall.com. "If Welker is correct that Democrats don't support late-term abortion, why did approximately 98 percent of them vote against a 20-week ban (with exceptions) during the last presidency? And why did 99 percent of them vote for a bill that would have expanded 'abortion access' throughout all nine months, well beyond the Roe precedent? They did so because that's their position, no matter what they say."
Benson continued, "Again, this is an appalling and profoundly unpopular position, which is why they lie and pretend it's not theirs. But it is. To ignore all of this is to engage in propaganda and dishonest advocacy."
The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi called out Welker's "deceitful assertions" about abortion, pushing back against her argument that "only 1% of late-term abortions happen."
"Only 1 percent, you say? Only less than 1 percent of homicides are of the mass shooting variety, and even fewer occur in schools. Would Welker frame school shootings as unimportant or unworthy of further policy discussion?" Harsanyi asked, later adding, "When it comes to abortion, the media engage in a pedantic parsing of the left’s position. Since Democrats aren’t affirmatively proposing women seek out late-term abortions — no one is ‘talking about that,’ says Welker — one can’t claim that they support the practice. This is a ridiculous standard… It’s completely dishonest."
The fiery exchange between Trump and Welker closely resembled another on-air clash that occurred last month between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns.
During the interview that aired on "Today," Burns asked DeSantis whether he would veto a bill banning abortion on a national level. The governor implied that he would veto such legislation as president, decrying efforts by "a lot of the left" to override any pro-life protections "all the way up, really, until the moment of birth in, some instances, which I think is infanticide."
"I'm sorry, I've got to push back on you on that because that, that's a misrepresentation of what's happening," Burns interjected. "I mean, that - 1.3% of abortions happen at 21 weeks or higher. There's no evidence of Democrats pushing for abortions up until-"
"But their view is, is that all the way up until that, yet there should not be any legal protections," DeSantis doubled down.
"There is no indication that Democrats are pushing that," Burns spoke over him before NBC cut away to a separate part of the interview, though DeSantis can be heard continuing to push back.
The full segment, which later aired to fewer viewers on MSNBC, showed DeSantis citing California as an example of a state with a far-reaching abortion law.
"They have not instituted that policy," Burns told DeSantis.
"Yeah, they have," the governor shot back.
Last year, California passed a constitutional amendment that states "the state shall not deny or interfere with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives." California law previously limited abortion beyond viability.
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In recent years, states like Maine, Colorado and New York have similarly passed laws that do not provide any week limits on abortion.
Prominent Democrats, including Sens. John Fetterman and Bernie Sanders, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, all rejected limits on abortions when asked.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck knocked NBC for being "hellbent" on denying the reality that Democrats haven't vocally opposed late-term abortions.
"Welker with Trump and Burns with DeSantis before that are worth mocking and condemning for trying to gaslight viewers," Houck told FOX News Digital. "Abortion without limits is a sacred cow for today's left, but their media allies are too cowardly to admit it."
"If the American public knew just how radical the Democratic platform is on abortion, they would never vote for them," pro-life advocate Abby Johnson told FOX News Digital. "Nearly 70% of Americans are in favor of restricting abortion past the first trimester. That's the reason why NBC News and their cohorts are so adamant about shutting down the truth on this issue. It's an ugly truth when you think about it."
NBC News did not immediately respond to FOX News' request for comment.
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