MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin doesn’t appear to care that unborn babies feel pain during abortions. In an interview with Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is spearheading today’s debate on the 20-week abortion ban, he said he didn’t want to get “bogged down” in the science behind fetal pain.

As National Review notes:

In an interview this morning, after Melvin cited that some feel evidence of pain before the third trimester is “limited,” Representative Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) explained to Melvin that premature babies, “these tiny little preemies,” respond to “the pricks and the prods and the pain” as doctors try to save them, and that surgeons operating on fetuses use anesthesia. Melvin interrupted her explanation to say, “I don’t want to get bogged down” with the issue. “I think a great deal of people would agree that science and that public opinion is on your side,” he said, before moving to another topic. Later in the interview, Melvin interrupted Blackburn again to ask whether the bill before the House that would ban almost all abortions after 20 weeks was “purely pandering.” The congresswoman took offense, asking, “Is saving the life of women and babies ‘pandering?’ Absolutely not, I can’t believe you would say something like that.”

More transcript from the interview:

Melvin asks at 10:28: “Is this pandering?”

Blackburn: “No it isn’t pandering at all.”

Melvin: “Okay.”

Blackburn: “Is saving the life of women and of babies pandering? Absolutely not! I can’t believe you’d say something like that. My goodness.”

Melvin: “But Congressman, you know, you and I both know the President is not going to sign it. The Senate is not going to take it up. So clearly, this is a measure that is symbolic, is it not?”

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

Blackburn: “You know what? It would be terrible if we sat on our hands knowing what we found out through Kermit Gosnell’s trial. Knowing that even his own attorney said ‘24 weeks is a bad determiner — the law needs to be moved back to 16/17 weeks.’ We’re not moving this as far back as Kermit Gosnell’s attorney said it should be moved back. We are taking a very reasonable step because the American people have spoken out and said they wanted something done. The U.S. House of Representatives is the people’s house. There are so many debates that are up to us to start the discussion. We will do that today and thank you for your attention to the issue.”