Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) on Sunday said a national abortion ban floated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is “inconsistent with what we’ve been fighting for.”
McConnell told USA Today in an interview published on Saturday that a national ban on abortions is “possible” as the country reacts to a draft majority opinion from the Supreme Court that shows the bench poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Asked by anchor Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” if he would oppose a national ban on the medical procedure, Hutchinson said such a move may have “some constitutional issues.”
“I think it’s inconsistent with what we’ve been fighting for four decades, which is that we wanted the Roe v. Wade reversed and the authority to return to the states. And so as a matter of principle, that’s where it should be,” Hutchinson said.
“If you look at a constitutional or a national standard that goes against the, that trust of the states having prerogative, and, secondly, I think there’s some constitutional issues with a national standard as well as to one is the authority of the Constitution to enact that,” he added.
Hutchinson said returning abortion decisions back to the states, which would occur if Roe v. Wade is overturned, “makes sense under the Constitution.”
“If the court reverses Roe v. Wade, they’re saying that the Constitution does not provide that, which returns it to the states. And to me that makes sense under the Constitution,” the governor said.
“And that’s where the vigorous debate is going to be. That is where we’re gonna face a lot of concerns on the compassion side. And states are gonna make different determinations of it, but the people are going to express to their representative exactly the direction they want to go. And to me that makes sense, and I think it makes sense under our Constitution,” he added.
The conversation comes less than one week after Politico published a draft Supreme Court opinion that showed the bench had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. While the Supreme Court said the document was “authentic,” it emphasized that the ruling is not final.
McConnell told USA Today that “if the leaked opinion became the final opinion, legislative bodies — not only at the state level but at the federal level — certainly could legislate in that area” when asked if a national ban on abortion is “worthy of debate.”
“And if this were the final decision, that was the point that it should be resolved one way or another in the legislative process. So yeah, it’s possible,” he added.