WSJ: The DCCC's Abortion Distortion Campaign

The DCCC is lying about Republicans' position on abortion. It's so egregious that the Wall Street Journal editorial board took aim at their "variations of this Handmaid's Tale fiction."

In case you missed it…

The Abortion Distortion Campaign
Wall Street Journal
The Editorial Board
October 7, 2024
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-abortion-distortion-campaign-election-politics-ca91ec2e?st=uj2LpZ&reflink=article_copyURL_share

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.

Read the full editorial here.