Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes: Ban abortion for Zika because birth defects are 'nothing new'

CNN contributor and Donald Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes argued on Monday that pregnant women who have contracted the Zika virus should be banned from having abortions because birth defects were "nothing new."

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) insisted to Politico in a recent interview that abortion should be banned with no exceptions including cases where the Zika virus would cause the child to be born with severe microcephaly.

On Monday, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona told CNN's Chris Cuomo that Rubio's stance reflected the beliefs of many men in the Republican Party.

"What Republicans did was they poisoned the [Zika] bill with efforts to try to cut back funding for those [reproductive health] clinics and to cut back funding on Obamacare," Cardona explained. "They really weren't interested in fixing this issue. They were interested in playing politics and Marco Rubio's comment underscores why."

Hughes agreed that microcephaly was a "devastating disease," but added that children with birth defects were "nothing new."

"We don't have the research, we don't know what Zika is going to do," she opined. "And Sen. Rubio is doing the correct thing. One out of every 33 babies in the United States right now is born with a birth defect."

"We're going to sit there and terminate a life because you're possibly going to be born with [microcephaly]?" Hughes asked. "I think that's actually very hypocritical of the Democrat [SIC] Party."

"Abortion is definitely not the answer for a way to sit there and cure this disease."

Watch the video below from CNN, broadcast Aug. 8, 2016.