Democrats fault anti-abortion records of GOP incumbents in fight to retake Congress

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Democrats fault anti-********* records of GOP incumbents in ****** to retake Congress

In a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, Derek Tran, a Democrat from Orange County, California, blasted his opponent, *********** U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel, for supporting a national ********* ban and voting to limit access to birth control.

Democratic challenger Will Rollins also called out his rival, Rep. Ken Calvert, and “MAGA extremists” in an

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

for their backing of a bill that could criminalize medical practitioners who provide abortions.

A few blocks from state Route 14 in Lancaster, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, Rep. Mike Garcia’s Democratic opponent, George Whitesides, planted

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

promising to protect reproductive health care, a jab at the *********** congressman, who has voted to cut taxpayer funding of abortions for service members and other Americans.

As Election Day approaches, Democratic hopefuls are doing all they can to tie *********** opponents in contested congressional districts to their anti-********* records. Aggressive ads are going up in

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, as Democrats see an opportunity to take control of the House by engaging voters who might not vote straight-ticket — or at all. Republicans currently control the House by a slim margin.

“What we all need to do is to make sure we look at her record, and that record is contrary to what she’s putting out there in her ads,” Tran said in an interview about Steel. “We’re making sure that we educate and remind the voters of who she really is.”

Democrats are also linking *********** incumbents to former President Donald Trump, who has taken credit for the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Democrats are warning voters that more restrictions could come. During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump dodged a question about whether he would veto a national ********* ban if elected.

A majority of voters support restoring a federal right to *********, according to a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. And 1 in 14 voters say ********* is the most important issue in determining their choice. Those voters have the potential to make a difference in the close races, said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.

“The politics of ********* and reproductive health can get voters to participate at higher rates,” McCuan said. “It’s going to be a defining issue.”

Democrats are hoping the issue plays to their favor in California. Voters two years ago codified ********* rights into state law. In May, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

targeting seven *********** seats and Democrat Katie Porter’s open seat.

As a result, political analysts say, Republicans have shied away from their votes on ********* and some incumbents — such as Steel, Garcia and Central Valley U.S. Rep. David Valadao — have moderated their stances to appeal to voters.

Steel, like Garcia and Valadao, has said she supports exceptions to ********* bans in cases of *****, ******* or threats to the life of the mother. All three co-sponsored a bill amounting to a blanket ********* ban in the previous Congress. Garcia and Valadao left their names off the bill last year, but Steel signed on again as a co-sponsor — briefly.

She withdrew her support after she won her March primary, explaining that it could create confusion because the three-page bill could threaten in vitro fertilization. In a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, Steel shared that she had used IVF to have children and reiterated her support for the procedure. Steel spokesperson Lance Trover said she opposes a national ********* ban.

None of the *********** incumbents who represent a California “toss-up” district, as determined by the nonpartisan

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, granted KFF Health News an interview. Those who did respond said they do not support a national ********* ban.

Rep. John Duarte added that he opposes a ban because he’s “pro-choice,” and Calvert said “the issue is best decided with the states and their voters directly.” Both voted for a bill to limit medication ********* and supported a measure that would have

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

for medical providers who don’t resuscitate ******* born after an attempted *********.

Tim Rosales, a political strategist who has represented *********** candidates, said these incumbents shouldn’t get heat for changing their minds over time, noting that Democratic former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama reversed their positions on same-**** marriage.

“There has to be some allowance for evolution on a variety of issues,” Rosales said.

Ben Petersen, a spokesperson for the National *********** Congressional Committee, said Democrats who have called out Republicans for inconsistencies want to move the conversation away from other topics, such as the “disastrous cost of living crisis hurting women and families caused by their one-party control of Sacramento.”

This political dance is playing out on the national stage, especially in battleground races where Republicans find themselves on defense in states where ********* is on the ballot. Roughly two dozen races are considered toss-ups.

In a March post on the social platform X, *********** Nebraska Rep.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, “I’ve always defended the life of the mother,” after his Democratic rival, Tony Vargas, called him out for supporting a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, which makes no exceptions for cases in which the mother’s life is at risk. That same month, Rolling Stone reported that the Omaha-area congressman had deleted some anti-********* endorsements from his website. Nebraskans will vote this November on competing ********* ballot measures.

In Arizona, where voters will also be asked whether to enshrine ********* rights into the state constitution, *********** incumbent David Schweikert this year did not support a national ********* ban, which he had co-sponsored at least six times from 2012 to 2021. In April,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that he opposed an ********* ban in Arizona, calling on the state legislature to “address this issue immediately.”

On the airwaves, on their websites, and on the campaign trail, *********** candidates are pivoting to convince voters that they have voted to protect women. For example, Steel this month released an

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in which the Orange County sheriff says Steel has “worked tirelessly to protect victims of domestic ********* and ******* ******.”

Trover, the Steel spokesperson, said she voted two years ago to reauthorize the ********* Against Women Act. That vote was on a larger

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, which included the measure.

The year before, Steel

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

This article was produced by

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

— the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism. KFF Health News is the publisher of

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, an editorially independent service of the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Democrats #fault #antiabortion #records #GOP #incumbents #****** #retake #Congress

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up