Rand Paul: Can't Have Liberty without Defending Life

GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul told a pro-life audience Thursday that liberty can only be protected if we first start with protecting the basic right to life.

The Kentucky senator was greeted enthusiastically by supporters of the Susan B. Anthony List, an influential pro-life policy group in Washington, D.C.

He explained why his pro-life views match up with his libertarian-leaning philosophy.

"Some have said to me that 'you're big on all this liberty stuff, why do you want to restrict a women's right to choose?'" he said.

"And I say, you know what? The government does have some role in our lives. One of the main roles that government has is restricting you from harming another individual, which gets us back to the original debate. When life begins, there is a role for the state so it's not that I'm against people choosing things. I'm in fact, one of the biggest believers in choice, in liberty. But you can't have liberty if you don't protect where your liberty originates from and that's your right to life," Paul explained.

A few other potential presidential candidates appeared at the SBA List summit as well, including Carly Fiorina and Sen. Lindsey Graham.