Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Friday he believes life begins at conception – an apparent switch from his previously held position on abortion, The Messenger reported.
Responding to a question on his abortion stance, Ramaswamy said he has believed life begins at conception since he was a high school student, during a campaign event at a winery in Iowa on Friday, according to The Messenger. Ramaswamy’s position appeared to differ from comments he made in April, when he said during a Fox News interview that life begins when brain waves can be detected, roughly at the six-week mark of pregnancy. (RELATED: Vivek Ramaswamy’s UFO Policy Is Definitely A Nice Idea. But It Won’t Work)
“I believe life begins at conception. I believe that unborn life is life,” Ramaswamy said Friday, according to The Messenger. “I came to those beliefs, actually in my teenage years at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati and I hold them to this day.”
However, this would seem to contradict his earlier statements on abortion.
“If life ends, right, when do brainwaves end? That’s how we determine when life ends on the back end. I think we should apply consistent principle on the front end,” Ramaswamy said during an April Fox News interview. “That’s around the six-week mark that brainwaves do begin. So I think that’s the right way to think about the issue at the state level.”
Ramaswamy’s campaign clarified that while he believes life begins at conception, state governments hold the position that life begins when brain waves can be detected at approximately six weeks, at which point they should consider imposing a ban on abortion.
“Vivek believes life begins at conception. Vivek believes state governments should be consistent in their position: they say life ends with brain waves, then life should begin with brain waves,” Ramaswamy’s team told The Messenger. “Most people who have signaled support for a 6-week ban believe that life begins at conception. … This is another case of people trying to push a narrative of him changing, when what he is saying is highly nuanced.”
In March, Ramaswamy told the Daily Caller in an interview that he considers abortion “as a states’ issue for the people,” and that “neither Congress nor the courts ever had the power to make that decision federally.”
Ramaswamy’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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