Presidential hopefuls share pregnancy stories at Iowa event

DES MOINES — Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy on Friday both shared personal family stories — for the first time, they said — of their wives’ miscarriages. And Nikki Haley explained her wish to expand Republicans’ support for conservative abortion policy.

Abortion policy was a major topic of discussion Friday when the three Republican presidential hopefuls attended an event hosted by The Family Leader, an Iowa-based Christian conservative organization.

Abortion policy also was the main point among Democrats who were talking about the event.

At The Family Leader’s “Presidential Thanksgiving Family Forum,” DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy appealed to roughly 800 people in a downtown Des Moines hotel conference room.

Former President Donald Trump declined an invitation to the event. Family Leader president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats has criticized Trump at times during the campaign.

South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott had accepted an invitation to the event, but he suspended his campaign last weekend.

Vander Plaats moderated the roughly 90-minute forum with the three candidates. Vander Plaats did not, as he suggested before the event that he might, endorse one of the candidates for president.

Candidates share personal stories, talk abortion policy

DeSantis, the governor of Florida, shared the story of his wife having a miscarriage while they were trying to get pregnant for the first time after having difficulty conceiving.

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“Unfortunately, we lost that first baby. And it was a tough thing because this is something that we had so much hope for,” DeSantis said. “But we just kept the faith. We just kept praying. We knew that there would be a path that God would lead us on. And, lo and behold, a short time after, we did it: We had our first baby girl. …

“I think it showed me, one, life has a long and winding road. Keep the faith,” DeSantis said. “But it also told me, you know what, this is special. I’ve got to fight for these kids, and I’ve got to fight for all these kids.”

Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur from Ohio, said he became opposed to abortion through logic by believing that life begins when brain waves begin. He also shared that his wife, Apoorva, had a miscarriage when they were first trying to get pregnant.

Ramaswamy said the next time his wife became pregnant, they were told she was having another miscarriage, but at an appointment the next day, doctors detected a heartbeat. Soon after, their oldest son Karthik was born.

“That was a life. That’s this guy here,” Ramaswamy said as Karthik came to the stage, where he sat in Ramaswamy’s lap for the remainder of the forum. “I think that that’s what gives us our commitment. Yes, there’s a logic of it. But when you bring life into this world, you’ll protect all life, born and unborn.”

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Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also described having difficulty getting pregnant.

When she was asked about her answer to a question about abortion policy during a recent nationally televised debate, Haley explained her goal of rallying more support to conservatives’ cause.

“If we’re going to have this conversation about the federal (anti-abortion) law, we do need to tell people the truth because it is causing division and demonizing in an issue that is incredibly personal to every woman and every man,” Haley said, noting as she has in the past that any federal legislation would require 60 senators in support, and that Republicans have not had 60 senators in more than a century.

“So we can’t ban abortions on the Republican side any more than the Democrats can ban these state laws,” Haley said. “So if we’re focused on how do we save as many babies as possible, then let’s come together and say, ‘What can we do?’ ”

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Haley suggested common ground on the issue should include banning late-term abortions, encourage adoption, prohibiting the requirement of doctors who oppose abortions to perform them, and not charging women who have an abortion with a crime.

Asked later if she would sign, as governor, a ban on abortions once a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected, Haley said, “Yes. Whatever the people decide. … I think it’s right to be in the hands of the people.”

Democrats decry GOP on abortion

The Democratic National Committee launched a new billboard campaign in Des Moines ahead of The Family Leader event and a Trump campaign rally Saturday in Fort Dodge.

The billboards call out Trump and other candidates running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination over their support for what the DNC said are extreme abortion bans.

Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart and Minnesota Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, speaking to reporters ahead of the event, highlighted how Trump paved the way for states like Iowa and others to further restrict abortion access with this appointment of conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who overturned federal abortion protections.

The pair also criticized Republican candidates, including DeSantis, who support a federal ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy. Iowa Democrats often point to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll from March that found 61 percent of Iowans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

“Not one of these candidates is in sync with Iowans,” Hart said of the Republican presidential hopefuls. “Iowans value their freedoms, and they know that neither Donald Trump nor (Gov.) Kim Reynolds belong in the exam rooms with Iowa’s women.”

Hart also said The Family Leader “has done everything in their power to strip away reproductive rights for women” and said DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy are “tripping over each other in hopes they will be extreme enough” to earn Vander Plaats’ endorsement.

Candidates jockeying, trailing Trump

Trump has held a consistent and commanding lead over the remainder of the primary field in polling, both in Iowa and nationally, throughout this year.

His support in rolling polling averages in Iowa is 47 percent at Real Clear Politics and 44.9 percent at fivethirtyeight, while second-place DeSantis is at 17.3 and 18 percent, respectively.

The race for second place in Iowa played out off the Family Leader stage Friday as well.

Just as the event was getting started, the DeSantis campaign announced a website dedicated to criticizing Haley. The site, the DeSantis campaign says, will highlight positions that the DeSantis campaign claims show that Haley “is not the conservative she pretends to be.”

DeSantis recently was endorsed by Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is very popular among Iowa Republicans. Reynolds broke with tradition in becoming the first sitting Iowa governor since 1995 to endorse a presidential candidate before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Reynolds has already appeared on the campaign trail with DeSantis, and was scheduled to join him at a campaign office opening event Saturday morning in a Des Moines suburb.

Also on Friday, just before The Family Leader event began, the DeSantis campaign announced a new round of endorsements from 52 Iowa faith leaders. DeSantis now has more than 100 such endorsements, his campaign said.

One of the new endorsements came from Pastor Darran Whiting of Liberty Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids.

“(DeSantis) is an ally to the faith community here in Iowa, will stand firm for the truth, and I know that, as president, his faith will continue to be his anchor,” Whiting said in a news release from the DeSantis campaign. “I am proud to join his ‘Faith and Family Coalition’ and look forward to caucusing for him in January.”

Haley’s campaign, also just before Friday’s event, announced the endorsement of Marlys Popma, a well-known figure in Iowa Republican politics. Popma has worked on multiple campaigns, led the state Republican Party and been a leader in Iowa anti-abortion organizations.

Popma said she went into an event with Haley earlier Friday undecided, but, after hearing Haley, decided to support her in the caucuses.

“I walked into an event undecided but came out with unconditional support for her candidacy,” Popma said in a news release from the Haley campaign. “Haley has been a governor and knows how to balance budgets and trim government waste. As former ambassador to the United Nations, she brings a unique foreign affairs perspective paralleled by no other candidate.”

Tom Barton of The Gazette’s Des Moines Bureau contributed to this report.

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