Bush disavows ‘Rubio is too pro-life’ attack ads

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has distanced himself from a super PAC’s planned ads on his behalf attacking Florida Senator Marco Rubio as too pro-life.

On Wednesday, Live Action News covered reports of a Right to Rise PAC video previewed to a New Hampshire focus group arguing that Rubio’s publicly-declared opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest placed him too far out of the mainstream to win a general election.

During a press conference following an Iowa town hall event, Bush responded to a question about the report by declaring, “I don’t think anybody should attack someone who’s pro-life.” He went on to insist that he was actually “the most pro-life candidate on that stage,” citing his signing of laws funding alternatives to abortion, regulating abortion clinics, and creating “Choose Life” license plates.

As Live Action covered yesterday, Bush favors rape and incest exceptions for abortion, has said he would not have a pro-life “litmus test” for judicial nominees, and formerly sat on the board of the Bloomberg Foundation, which pledged $50 million to promote abortion worldwide.

Rubio, meanwhile, is pro-life without exceptions for rape or incest, but has endorsed the so-called “morning-after” pill for rape victims, despite its capacity to function as an abortifacient.

Bush’s central message was that “I’m a better bet” than Rubio for a successful Republican presidential nominee against Hillary Clinton.