Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves faced questions during an interview Sunday about why he supports "freedom and individual liberty" when it comes to a person's decision to get vaccinated, but not for a woman's decision to get an abortion.
The interview conducted on NBC News' Meet the Press comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments in the coming days over a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy.
In June, Reeves told CNN said that the law provides a "vehicle" for the court to revisit the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, which he said was a "mistake."
During the Meet the Press interview, host Chuck Todd played clips of Reeves commenting on vaccine mandates that President Joe Biden previously announced. The Mississippi governor called the mandates a "power grab" by the federal government.
"We've seen this time and time again by the Biden administration...And now we're seeing their strong desire to try to make decisions on behalf of individual Americans. We believe in freedom and individual liberty," Reeves said.
"Freedom and individual liberty," Todd remarked. "Why should the state of Mississippi tell a woman what they should do with their body? Why shouldn't they have that individual freedom on their body, particularly in the first 20 weeks?"
"The far-left loves to scream 'My body, my choice,'" Reeves said. "And what I would submit to you, Chuck, is they absolutely ignore the fact that in getting an abortion, there is an actual killing of an innocent, unborn child that is in that womb," Reeves said.
"The difference between vaccine mandates and abortions is vaccines allow you to protect yourself. Abortions actually go in and kill other American babies," he added.
"But governor, vaccines are not about yourself," Todd interjected. "A vaccine is about protecting a larger community. A vaccine is about preventing spread. You could argue a vaccine mandate is a pro-life position."
"You could certainly argue that Chuck, but even if you listen to Dr. Fauci's interview with you earlier today, he made it very clear that the vaccine may not keep you from getting the virus, it may not keep you from spreading the virus, but it can keep you from ending up in the hospital," Reeves said, referring infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci who also appeared on Meet the Press Sunday.
"Conversely, when you're talking about the pro-life position of protecting unborn babies, let's put it also in perspective," Reeves said.
He noted that 800,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, including 10,000 Mississippians.
"My heart breaks for every single one of them," Reeves said.
"But since Roe was enacted, 62 million American babies have been aborted and have therefore been killed. And that's why I think it's very important that people like myself and others across this country stand up for those unborn children because they don't have [the] ability to stand up for themselves."
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Xander Landen is a Newsweek weekend reporter. His focus is often U.S. politics, but he frequently covers other issues including ... Read more
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