When he ran in 2010, Walker, the son of a Baptist preacher, said he opposed abortion in all cases, including rape and incest. He signed bills during his first term designed to crack down on abortion clinics by requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital and forcing women to undergo ultrasounds before the procedure.
Nonetheless, anti-abortion activists have been frustrated by what they see as Walker’s evasiveness on the issue during his 2014 reelection campaign and, most recently, earlier this week on “Fox News Sunday.”
Responding to a seven-figure television buy from the pro-abortion-right women’s group EMILY’s List last October, Walker ran a commercial calling abortion an “agonizing decision” and said his bills leave “the final decision to a woman and her doctor.” At the time, people in the pro-life world grumbled that he was using the rhetoric of the pro-choice movement. Then, during a January appearance in Iowa, he bragged about defunding Planned Parenthood.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member