Politico reported that the senator said even if a pregnant woman infected with Zika has a risk of delivering a baby with severe microcephaly, she still doesn’t have a right to an abortion. “When you present it in the context of Zika or any prenatal condition, it’s a difficult question and a hard one”, Rubio says. So, now the virus is not simply a threat to those who travel to other countries but has reached the USA mainland.
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US health regulators said on Friday that they had cleared the way for a trial of genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida that can reduce mosquito populations, potentially offering a new tool to fight the local spread of Zika and other viruses. “If they might be pregnant, thinking of getting pregnant, I wouldn’t let them go”, he said, when asked by the host how he’d react to his family wanting to go to the Olympics in Brazil.
Marco Rubio has said he doesn’t believe pregnant women infected with the Zika virus should be allowed to get an abortion.
“Obviously, microcephaly is a awful prenatal condition that kids are born with”. “So I get it”.
“I’m strongly pro life”, Rubio said.
Rubio, who recently reversed course and chose to seek re-election to the Senate in November, took a tougher stance against abortions during his failed White House bid.
Rubio acknowledged that Zika does pose a significant risk of birth defects, but said that does not affect his position on abortion. I believe all human life should be protected by our law, irrespective of the circumstances or condition of that life’.
So far, according to Sarkar, the response to Zika around the country has been inadequate, thanks largely to Congress failing to pass additional funding to combat the virus prior to its summer recess.
Rubio’s Democratic opponent, South Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy, condemned the stance in a statement to reporters.
“We still need the federal government to show up”.
CDC Director Thomas Frieden mentioned in a news briefing held on August 1 that mosquito control measures in Miami haven’t been that effective.
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The mosquito-borne Zika virus is, in many people, symptomless; in pregnant women, however, it can mean babies born with very small heads and underdeveloped brains – microcephaly. So much health care in fact, that the CDC can’t even begin to calculate the potentially staggering costs yet.
