Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says Kids in Womb Will Be As Safe as Those in School

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders sparked outrage after a speech she made declaring that the end of Roe v. Wade will make "kids" in the womb "as safe as they are in a classroom" resurfaced on social media.

At a rally in Arkansas in May—where Sanders will run for governor in November after winning this year's GOP primary with the support of former president Donald Trump—the former White House press secretary reiterated her anti-abortion stance, promising to fight abortion rights.

"We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they're as safe as they are in a classroom, the workplace, a nursing home—because every stage of life has value, no one greater than the other," Sanders can be seen saying in a clip from the rally shared on Twitter.

Her speech sounds particularly tone-deaf, if not confusing, as it was given on May 25, only a day after the country's second-deadliest school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks to reporters outside the White House on May 03, 2019 in Washington, D.C. Only a day after the Uvalde school shooting, the former White House Press Secretary talked of kids being... Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Newsweek has contacted Sanders for comment.

The juxtaposition of her comments and the Texas tragedy was not lost on people who saw her speech pop up on social media and many reacted by sharing images of the Uvalde victims and children's school safety drills.

Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime Guttenberg was murdered in the Parkland school shooting of 2018, called Sanders' comment "b********."

"My daughter was murdered in her classroom," he wrote on Twitter. "When@SarahHuckabee says 'We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they're as safe as they are in a classroom' I take notice. Sarah, your b******* is deadly to kids when they are born."

"Sanders thinks outlawing abortion will stop abortion rather than endanger womens' lives," wrote author Greg Anderson on Twitter.

"These same geniuses think arming teachers will stop schools from getting shot up. She's right though, fetuses and schoolkids are equally safe under Republican rule."

"This confirms the@gop IS in favor of abortion, provided it's done by AR-15," wrote political commentator and writer Keith Olbermann.

Sanders has been celebrating the decision of the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade last Friday, calling it "a day so many of us have prayed for and worked towards" for decades.

"I am thankful for the brave resolve of the six justices who—while receiving death threats and extreme political pressure—did what is right: defending the lives of the most innocent and vulnerable," Sanders tweeted in the aftermath of the decision that removed federal protection for abortion rights and sparked immediate protests across the country.

On the same day she also pledged on Twitter that "as governor, I will fight to keep Arkansas one of the most pro-life states in the nation."

She greeted the announcement that Planned Parenthood of Little Rock, Arkansas, had canceled all scheduled abortions on June 24 as "great news."

Arkansas is one of the 13 states with trigger laws giving the power to ban abortions the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned. Performing or receiving an abortion is now illegal in the state, including in cases of incest or rape. The only exception allows abortions when there is a threat to the life of the pregnant woman.

Abortions are now punishable in Arkansas with up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $100,000.

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About the writer

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

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Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more