How GOP presidential candidates are courting evangelical voters in Iowa

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Republican presidential hopefuls took center stage in Iowa over the weekend, making their case to a key voting bloc in that state, white evangelicals.

  The candidates touched on various issues important to religious conservatives, abortion in particular.

  Laura Barrón-López has more.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  This weekend in Iowa, a focus on faith.

  Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Presidential Candidate: Our rights were endowed by the hand of almighty God.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  And guns.

  Fmr. Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR), Presidential Candidate: As president, I will make sure that our Second Amendment is protected.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  As most of the Republican presidential hopefuls courted voters four months before the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses.

• Man:

  You ready to hear from these presidential candidates?

• Laura Barrón-López:

  One critical voting bloc, evangelicals, who made up nearly two-thirds of Republican caucus-goers in 2016.

  (Applause)

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Most candidates made their pitch Saturday at the Annual Faith and Freedom Dinner in Des Moines.

  Mike Pence (R), Presidential Candidate: So, there is a debate within the party today, Ralph, and it's an important debate.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  On display, divides inside the GOP on a critical issue for conservative voters, abortion. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touted recent six-week bans enacted in Iowa and his home state.

• Gov. Ron DeSantis:

  I think the states have done the better job thus far. Congress has really struggled to make a meaningful impact over the years.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  While former Vice President Mike Pence pushed for a 15-week national ban.

• Mike Pence:

  It's a 15-week minimum ban. I believe it's an idea whose time has come.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  A proposal former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley dismissed as unrealistic.

  Nikki Haley (R), Presidential Candidate: Tell people the truth. You go and you put this ban of 15 weeks, and what does it do? It has everybody running from us. What about if we got people running to us?

• Laura Barrón-López:

  And former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said he would sign a national ban with reasonable exceptions. He also took aim at comments made by former President Donald Trump, who skipped the event.

• Fmr. Gov. Asa Hutchinson:

  Both sides aren't going to like you. This is going to be a fight for life. And we have been doing that for 40 years. You take a stand. You state your position.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  During an interview on "Meet the Press," Trump, who leads his GOP opponents by more than 30 points in Iowa, dodged specifics about the abortion restrictions he would support.

  Donald Trump, Former President of the United States: We're going to agree to a number of weeks or months or however you want to define it. And both sides are going to come together. And both sides, both sides — and this is a big statement — both sides will come together, and, for the first time in 52 years, you will have an issue that we can put behind us.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  At the federal level?

• Donald Trump:

  It could be state or it could be federal. I don't, frankly, care.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  As president, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, which led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for Republican states to enact laws restricting abortion.

  For Republican voters in Iowa, however, their support for abortion restrictions is clear. In a recent Emerson College poll, 38 percent of Republicans said abortion should be banned at all times. Another 26 percent support a ban after six weeks.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Laura Barrón-López.