How Kali Lake changed and changed her stance on abortion

Lake, a former TV news anchor who narrowly lost the 2022 gubernatorial race to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, is taking a different tone when it comes to reproductive rights as an issue. We aim to be a galvanizing force in this election cycle. Arizona has been in the spotlight since the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce a near-total ban that was in place before it became a state.

The ruling, which has not yet taken effect, makes the procedure illegal unless it saves a pregnant person’s life. Providers who perform abortions could face jail time, but Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays, a Democrat, has vowed not to enforce any ban. The decision could send shockwaves across battleground states and jeopardize Republicans’ hopes of winning seats in the Senate. Lake is expected to face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in the November general election.

Since Tuesday’s ruling, Lake has called on Hobbs and the Republican-led state Legislature to come together on a solution. In a five-and-a-half minute campaign video released Thursday, Lake appealed to the state’s majority for a near-total abortion ban. The ban invokes an 1864 law that states anyone who performs an abortion can be sentenced to two years in prison. A few years to five years is “not consistent with where people are in this state.”

In the video, Lake declared that if elected to the Senate, he would not support federal funding for abortion or a federal abortion ban. She expressed her support for abortion exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of a pregnant person, and also called for “more choice” for other pregnant people. He also said he would like to give it, but did not go into details.

“I made a choice in life, but I’m not every woman. I want every woman who finds out she’s pregnant to have more choices so they can make the same choice I did.” ” she said.

In addition to outlining her position on abortion, Lake also expressed support for what she called a “baby bonus,” which would provide tax breaks to married individuals and lower the tax rate for each child born. Throughout her video, Lake repeatedly linked her own stance on the abortion issue to former President Donald Trump, who continues to poll ahead of President Biden in Arizona.

Asked for comment, Lake’s campaign referred the Washington Post to the video posted Thursday.

President Trump realized, especially during this campaign, that he had to pivot on abortion. The day before the Arizona ruling, President Trump said states should make their own decisions about regulating abortion. But he later criticized an Arizona court for reinstating the abortion law, saying it went too far.

Mr. Lake was also included in a long list of Republican politicians who have declared that they believe life begins at conception.

But ever since then Roe vs. Wade Arizona faces the challenge of how to change the law after it was overturned nationwide two years ago. Starting in December 2022, the state will allow doctors to perform abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies.

Then, in February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, and many IVF providers are considering the impact of the ruling and temporarily suspending the procedure. It was decided to cancel. The Alabama ruling prompted many Republicans to voice their support for in vitro fertilization, including Lake and others who signed a bill declaring that life begins at conception.

Arizona voters are now poised to consider whether to amend the state constitution to enshrine the right to abortion in November. Polls show that a majority of Arizona voters want to legalize abortion, and many say abortion is the issue that motivates their voting decisions.

In an October New York Times/Siena College poll, 59 percent of registered voters in Arizona said abortion should be legal most or all of the time. 34% said it should be illegal most or all of the time. In a March Fox News poll, 39% of Arizona voters said abortion was extremely important in deciding the presidential election, and 32% said it was very important. Those who supported Biden in 2020 were nearly twice as likely to say the issue was very important in their vote, 51 percent to 27 percent.

The Arizona ruling and the Republican response to it underscore the electoral challenges Republicans face over the party’s record on abortion and reproductive rights.

So far, access to abortion after birth hasegg Times are winning for Democrats, and ballot measures to expand access to abortion have been successful even in Republican-majority states. At the same time, Republicans like Lake are realizing they need to reexamine what they’ve said on the issue in the past.

When Lake announced his support for the 1864 law during the 2022 Republican gubernatorial debate, he added that abortion pills should be illegal and said he believes life begins at conception.

“My personal belief is that all lives matter. All lives matter, all lives are precious, and I don’t believe in abortion,” she said at the time. . “I think the old laws are going to be implemented and enforced. I believe that will happen.”

Ms. Lake also said in a 2022 radio interview, “The Conservative Circus with James T. Harris,” that she supports laws that would ban abortion, with some exceptions, to save the mother’s life.

“I’m very excited about the great legislation that’s already in the bill,” Lake said, adding, “Abortion will be prohibited in Arizona unless it saves the mother’s life. ” he added. And I think we’re going to pave the way and set the tone for other states to follow. ”

Mr. Lake, who remains the front-runner in the state’s Republican primary this summer, will likely face Mr. Gallego, a congressman from Phoenix. She and other Democrats are seizing the opportunity to attack her ever-changing comments on the issue.

Speaking to reporters Friday before appearing with Vice President Harris at a campaign rally in Tucson, Gallego emphasized the importance of abortion rights to voters, calling abortion access “the No. 1 political issue in Arizona.” ”.

Both Gallego and Harris blamed Trump for what’s happening in Arizona, calling for a new near-total abortion ban and Trump’s appointment of a conservative Supreme Court justice that was ultimately overturned. It’s tied together. egg In 2022.

“Overthrow” egg It was, without a doubt, a seismic event — and this ban here in Arizona is one of the biggest aftershocks ever,” Harris said.

Mr. Lake may also be losing some of his core supporters and anti-abortion activists as he struggles for a more moderate message. Steve Diese, a conservative talk show host based in Iowa, said: I have written He told X magazine this week that he was “very disappointed” in Lake’s opposition to the ruling. “In 2022, I thought Kali Lake was one of the best candidates I had ever seen, and I said so. Now, just two years later, she is almost completely unrecognizable from the candidate she was then. I can’t stand it,” he wrote.

Kim Owens, a longtime member of the Arizona Republican Party, also said she was disappointed by Lake’s recent comments.

“If you’re pro-life and you look at this situation and realize that this is what we’ve been fighting for decades and that fight continues, there’s an abhorrent ballot proposition in Arizona. ,” Owens said.

Owens, who supports Lake’s Republican primary opponent, Sheriff Mark Lamb, in the Senate race, believes Lake is “trying to step outside of his base” to attract more voters. He said he was there.

“I think she understands that she doesn’t have the appeal that she once did. She looked at the numbers. Mark Lamb has a lot of support from party members, but he’s losing his support base. I’m afraid of that,” she said.

Mariana Alfaro, Yvonne Wingett-Sanchez Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Sabrina Rodriguez contributed to this report.