According to a new report from HuffPost, during multiple interviews this week, Arizona Republican U.S. Senate nominee Blake Masters reaffirmed his support for Arizona’s extreme abortion ban and lied that the law has “all the common exceptions,” despite the ban including no exceptions for rape or incest.
Throughout the campaign, Masters repeatedly called for a federal personhood law outlawing all abortions nationally and supported Arizona’s near-total abortion ban. Just last week, the Republican endorsed Lindsey Graham’s federal abortion ban.
In Arizona, thanks to Republican politicians, a legal ruling is expected as soon as this week which could mark the end of nearly all safe, legal abortions in Arizona — putting in place an abortion ban that was signed into law during the Civil War when the state was still a territory.
“Masters is blatantly lying about Arizona’s extreme abortion ban and trying to cover up the fact that he doesn’t believe in exceptions for rape or incest,” said American Bridge 21st Century spokesperson Aidan Johnson. “No matter how you frame it, he is unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate.”
HuffPost: Blake Masters Offers Misleading Characterization Of His Position On Abortion
By: Amanda Terkel | September 22, 2022
Key Points:
-
“Abortion has been a tough topic for Blake Masters, as it has been for a number of GOP candidates this cycle. Republicans want to make clear to their base that they’re with them, but they don’t want to seem so extreme that they lose moderates and independents they need for November.”
-
“On Tuesday, Masters went on a Phoenix-area radio show and said he supported a new Arizona law that bars abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.”
-
“‘Arizona has decided 15 weeks, with all the common exceptions, and I’m not going to mess with that at the federal level,’ he said on ‘The Gaydos and Chad Show.’”
-
“Masters made similar comments Wednesday on ‘The Guy Benson Show.’”
-
“‘I always called for the repeal of Roe vs. Wade. Send that issue back to the states. Arizona’s decided 15 weeks, with all the common exceptions. And I support that law,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to mess with that at the federal level.’”
-
“But the Arizona abortion law that Masters says he supports does not have all those exceptions. That law ― which Masters claimed had ‘all the common exceptions’ ― actually allows exceptions after 15 weeks only in cases of medical emergencies. There are no exceptions for rape and incest.”
-
“In May, Masters was far more willing to talk about abortion than other GOP candidates. He said that ‘at a minimum,’ abortion should be left up to the states ― but he wanted to go further and embraced a federal personhood law.”
-
“And in January, he chided his fellow Republicans for being unwilling to embrace a national abortion ban: ‘What good is actually winning elections if you don’t do what you promised to do when you get in? … I don’t think it’s enough to return it to the states.’”
-
“More recently, Masters said he would back Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) legislation imposing a nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.”
Read the full report here.
Published: Sep 22, 2022