Rick Perry Doubles Down: Wendy Davis Should Be ‘Proud’ That Her Mother Didn’t Abort Her

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) doubled down on his criticism of state Sen. Wendy Davis (D), who filibustered for 13 hours to defeat an omnibus anti-abortion bill, and argued that he only meant to “compliment” the lawmaker for her “accomplished” life.

Last week, Perry faced criticism from members of his own party for suggesting that Davis, who was born to a single mother and is a single mother herself, should have learned from her own life experiences to value “every life.” During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Perry clarified that Davis should be grateful her mother did not abort her because “[y]ou never know who’s going to be considered to be an extraordinary individual”:

JOHN ROBERTS (HOST): In hindsight do you regret those comments and do you think that if you decide to run for president again in 2016, that those comments could hurt you with independent women?

PERRY: Actually, those comments were meant to be a compliment to her for what she had accomplished in her life, and you think about where she came from, what she’s accomplished. And as a matter of fact, I would think that she’s very proud of that as well. My point was that saving a life and letting that life come to its fulfillment and all the good things that happened. You never know who’s going to be considered to be an extraordinary individual who’s going to make that real impact and life. And that was our point that we were making, and nothing else. Nothing more.

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Perry has called the state legislature into a second special session and told Fox that he expects the abortion bill to pass in the coming week. The bill would, in part, outlaw abortions after 20 weeks and effectively close down 90 percent of clinics in the state.