While on Bret Baier’s Fox News show Special Report, Ohio Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan said there should be no abortion restrictions at all, establishing himself as radical even by pro-choice standards.
After the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, Ohio passed a heartbeat bill that restricted abortion after six weeks. Yet Congressman Ryan believes this is too strict. In fact, he believes any kind of restriction is too strict.
Ryan said, “Look, you got to leave it up to the woman, because you and I sitting here can’t account for all of the different scenarios that a woman, dealing with the complexities of a pregnancy, are going through. How can you and I figure that out?”
When it comes to the “constitutional right” to an abortion, the United States is among only six nations that allow elective abortions at any time during pregnancy. The other five are Canada, South Korea, Vietnam, North Korea, and China.
While Cockburn understands that Canada’s laws are more nuanced than that (there is no federal law restricting abortion but the provinces impose limitations), he is loath to be a part of a group that includes countries like China and North Korea. Yet this is exactly what Ryan is encouraging.
As mentioned before in another article, European abortion laws are (relative to America’s at least) relatively restrictive. Germany, Italy, and France limit abortion on demand to fifteen weeks’ gestation or earlier. In fact, a publication by the Family Research Council found that most European countries restrict abortion at 12 weeks.
J.D. Vance, Ryan’s Republican opponent in the Senate race, tweeted, “This is a barbaric position anywhere in the world (even European nations typically don’t allow abortion after 12 weeks). But it’s an especially radical position in Ohio.”
For the most part, Vance is correct. Tim Ryan’s approach to abortion will only endear him to left-wing fanatics in places like New York and California, not voters in the Buckeye State.
