Rick Perry: Attack on Wendy Davis was a 'compliment'

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Sunday asserted that his personal attack against state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) for filibustering an abortion bill even though she had been a teen mother was actually meant to be a "compliment."

In what Slate called "slut-shaming," Perry had told the National Right to Life conference last month that "the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances."

"She was the daughter of a single woman, she was a teenage mother herself. She managed to eventually graduate from Harvard Law School and serve in the Texas senate," he opined at the time. "It is just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters."

On Sunday, Fox News host John Roberts pointed out to Perry that even the Republican Speaker of the state House had accused him of damaging the Republican Party.

"Actually, those comments were meant to be a compliment to her for what she had accomplished in her life," the former Republican presidential candidate insisted. "And you think about where she came from and what she accomplished, and as a matter of fact, I would think that she's very proud of that as well."

"My point was that saving a life and letting that life coming to its fulfilment and all the good things that happen, you never know who's going to be considered to be an extraordinary individual, who's going to make that real impact," he added. "People are grasping onto anything that they can criticize and not focus on what's really at hand here. And the taking of life after 20 weeks is what this is about. The killing of babies that are viable outside their mom's bodies after 20 weeks is what this is about."

Perry also accused Democrats of using "mob rule" because noisy spectators prevented the state Senate from voting on the abortion bill after Republicans forced Davis to end her 11 hour filibuster.

"You know, it never happened before," he said. "When you look at the history of Texas, people have relayed to me that never have they seen that type of mob rule come in and discombobulate a legislative session. And Texans want to protect life, and that's the bottom line here."

The Texas governor predicted that the abortion bill would be passed within the first ten days of a special session that he called after the last defeat.

Watch this video from Fox News' Fox News Sunday, broadcast July 7, 2013.