Trump-endorsed Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker says he wants a total ban on abortion with no exceptions in cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother.
“There’s no exception in my mind. Like I say, I believe in life. I believe in life,” Walker told reporters after a campaign speech, The New York Times reports.
“You never know what a child is going to become'” Walker continued. “And I’ve seen some people, they’ve had tough times, but I always said, ‘No matter what, tough times make tough people’.”
Walker is the leading candidate in the GOP primary. The winner will face incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock in November.
Abortion has become a top issue in the midterms after Politico published a leaked draft opinion showing that the Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. If the court overturns Roe v. Wade the issue of abortion will be left up to the states to decide.
In 2019, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a law banning abortions after six weeks with exceptions for rape, incest, pregnancies that cannot come to term and for the health of the mother. The law was quickly struck down by a federal judge as unconstitutional after it was passed. The ruling was appealed to the 11th circuit court of appeals that heard arguments last September. But the matter was put on hold until the Supreme Court decides the fate of Roe.
This means that if Roe gets overturned the 11th Circuit would overrule the federal court decision based on the new precedent on abortion set by the Supreme Court.
If elected to the Senate, Walker will not have any control over abortion rights at the state level. But, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said a federal ban on abortion is “possibly” if Republicans retake control of the Senate after the midterm elections.
If Republicans are to retake control of the Senate then Walker must flip the seat this November.
