The Abortion Distortion Campaign
As Republicans move to the middle, Democrats falsely claim their opponents favor a national ban or no exceptions for rape or incest.
By The WSJ Editorial Board
Oct. 7, 2024 5:41 pm ET
Abortion has been a political winner for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, but could its political power be waning? We ask because that might explain why Democrats are making claims about their opponents’ abortion views that are flat-out false.
Knowing their vulnerability on abortion, most Republicans are moving toward the middle on the issue. But as they’ve done so, Democrats are making ever-more dishonest claims about what Republicans supposedly believe.
A major offender is Tim Walz, who in the recent vice-presidential debate said that Republicans support “a registry of pregnancies.” This followed Mr. Walz’s claim last month that “[Donald] Trump is trying to create this new government entity that will monitor all pregnancies to enforce their abortion bans.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is running variations of this Handmaid’s Tale fiction, with ads accusing House Republican candidates of wanting to “allow state governments to track pregnant women to prosecute them if they get an abortion.”
The alleged source for this claim is the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy paper, which hasn’t been adopted by the GOP as a party and Mr. Trump has disavowed many times. But even Project 2025 doesn’t propose such a registry. Its hardly radical idea is for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand its collection of anonymous state statistics about abortions and miscarriages.
The idea is to better understand the scope and complications of certain procedures. There is no call for personal or pregnancy information at a federal or a state level. And by the way, the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute collects data on the incidence of abortion and related issues without controversy.
The abortion distortion playbook has spread far and wide in Democratic campaigns. In California’s 22nd House district, GOP Rep. David Valadao has said he opposes a national abortion ban and supports abortion exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Yet challenger Rudy Salas is running an ad implying that Mr. Valadao supports no exception for rape. “Washington Republicans want to criminalize abortion, even when a woman has been raped or is facing a medical emergency,” the ad says, ending with “David Valadao, what if that was your daughter, or your sister?” The answer is that Mr. Valadao supports her right to an abortion.
In New York’s 17th district, Democrat Mondaire Jones is running an ad with a banner that says Rep. Mike Lawler “would ban abortions in New York.” Mr. Jones says in the ad that the Republican platform “would ban abortions even here in New York.”
Except that the GOP platform doesn’t include a ban and Mr. Lawler doesn’t support one. While Mr. Lawler personally opposes abortion with exceptions for rape, etc., he has said he does “respect the will of the state’s voters whom the Supreme Court have given exclusive jurisdiction over the abortion issue.” Albany Democrats are as likely to pass an abortion restriction as Iran is to approve same-sex marriage.
Even moderate Maryland Senate contender Larry Hogan, who wants to codify Roe in a statute, is being attacked as anti-abortion. Democrat Angela Alsobrooks claims Mr. Hogan would use a Senate seat to help Republicans “pass a national abortion ban.”
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey is pulling the same dishonest trick, saying GOP challenger Dave McCormick wants “to ban abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.” That’s false. Mr. McCormick’s position is that “any abortion law should make exceptions for rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in danger.” Montana’s Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is giving the same “no exceptions” treatment to Tim Sheehy, despite the Republican’s clear statements to the contrary.
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Politics isn’t pickleball, and distortions occur on both sides. But Democrats aren’t even attempting to be honest about abortion this year. Perhaps they’re lying so extravagantly because abortion is a rare issue on which they have a clear political advantage. Republicans are left having to decide whether to spend scarce campaign dollars debunking the distortions or risk letting some voters believe them because they’re unrebutted.
The distortions can also harm more than other politicians. They can frighten some women into thinking they can’t risk getting urgent medical care if they have a pregnancy emergency. This from the party that claims to be the protector of women’s health. The next time you see an abortion ad from a Democrat, assume it’s not telling the truth.
