Ben Carson wants abortion outlawed, even in cases of rape or incest

Richard Wolf | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- Rape and incest are no reasons to terminate a pregnancy, front-running Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Sunday.

Buoyed by polls showing him running ahead of Donald Trump in Iowa, the retired neurosurgeon said exceptions should be considered only in rare cases involving the mother's health, "if people can come up with a reasonable explanation of why they would like to kill a baby."

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Carson said he "would love" to see the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion overturned.

As for instances of rape or incest -- exceptions that are often made by other abortion opponents -- Carson said: “All you have to do is go and look up the many stories of people who have led very useful lives who were the result of rape or incest.”

Mothers should not have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, Carson said, just as slave owners did not have the right to do whatever they wanted to their slaves. Had abolitionists allowed that, he said, "Where would we be?"