When HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra was nominated to his current role, pro-life leaders rightly pointed out that Becerra has a longstanding record of abortion extremism. During his confirmation hearings, when he was asked directly why he had voted against a ban on the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortions, Becerra refused to give a straight answer. Now, in a House subcommittee hearing, he has denied that partial-birth abortions are illegal.

In a hearing for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Health Subcommittee on Wednesday, Representative Gus Bilirakis asked Becerra if he agrees that partial-birth abortion is illegal. In response, Becerra claimed that “there is no law that deals specifically with the term partial-birth abortion.” This is not true. Partial-birth abortion is specifically prohibited in U.S. Code § 1531. Representative John Joyce pointed this out later in the hearing and also drew attention to the fact that the law gives a clear definition of partial-birth abortion. Even though Representatives Bilirakis, Joyce, and Dan Crenshaw all pressed Becerra on the issue, he refused to say that partial-birth abortion is illegal or that he would enforce the law. 

In a partial-birth abortion, also known as a dilation and extraction abortion, a baby is partially delivered before they are killed, usually by puncturing the skull and suctioning out the brain. This appalling practice was banned in 2003 and the ban was upheld by the Supreme Court four years later. As the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List pointed out in a statement, Becerra can hardly plead ignorance considering that, as a Congressman, he voted against the ban, not to mention that he prosecuted the pro-life undercover journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood for illegally using the practice in order to harvest and sell the body parts of aborted babies.

Becerra’s refusal to give a straight answer during his confirmation hearings and his outright denial of the law this week reveals his radical commitment to the abortion lobby. Partial-birth abortion takes the life of a pre-born child in a horrifyingly cruel manner, and it is Secretary Becerra’s duty to uphold the law banning this practice. He cannot do so if he refuses to even acknowledge that the law exists.

(Image: Twitter, Susan B. Anthony List)