GOP’s Weld says he’s most pro-choice candidate in 2020 race

EXETER, N.H. (AP) — President Donald Trump's only major Republican primary challenger said Saturday that the recent spate of abortion laws being passed in states like Alabama has him feeling "terrible," and declared that abortion is a decision the government should not come anywhere near.

At a campaign stop in Exeter, New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld told a crowd of voters he's "the most pro-choice person you're ever going to meet."

"The way I look at it, it's kind of a power issue," Weld said. "And who wants a lot of big, fat, white guys who live in Washington 700 miles away making the decision about what's going to happen about a family pregnancy where the family has basis for some views and maybe wants to terminate the pregnancy."

Weld's stance places him far to the left of the mainstream Republican Party and Trump, whose base is often dedicated to anti-abortion measures.

The new law in Alabama largely restricts abortion, with no exception for cases of rape or incest. Several other states like Georgia and Missouri have also recently passed tougher restrictions in what are seen as being possible test cases in the effort to overturn Roe v. Wade.

While several pro-abortion rights Democrats seeking the party's nomination have said they would support enshrining the right to an abortion through federal law, Weld wouldn't go that far. He said he thinks it's likely the Supreme Court would uphold Roe v. Wade, a 1973 high court ruling that established the right to abortion.

If elected president, Weld said he wasn't sure he would have a "litmus test" that a possible Supreme Court justice would have to vote to keep Roe v. Wade, but he noted his standard would be "pretty close."