Democrats continue to make abortion campaign issue, but most still won’t say if they support any restrictions

With just weeks to go until the 2022 midterm elections, most Democrats running in tight re-election races still refuse to explain where they stand on abortion or if they support any limitations despite many making the issue a campaign centerpiece.

The silence from Democrats comes just days after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to explain President Joe Biden’s specific stance on abortion during a press briefing Friday. Jean-Pierre was asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy if Biden favored any limits on abortion. Jean-Pierre avoided the question saying, “I’m not going to get into specifics here.”

Fox News Digital reached out to more than two dozen Democrats running in this year’s midterm elections to ask what limitations on abortion they supported, if any. Only Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., responded by directing Fox News Digital to previous statements.

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A spokesperson for Cortez Masto pointed Fox News Digital to a September NBC News interview where the Democratic Senator was asked if she condoned any restrictions on abortion, and she said she supports Nevada law, where abortion is legal up until the 24th week of pregnancy.

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Mallory Carroll, vice president for communications at SBA Pro-Life America, told Fox News Digital that Democrats are “withholding the true extremism of their abortion agenda” and called Senate Democrats who supported the Women’s Health Protection Act, which opponents say would allow abortion without limits, “extreme and deeply out of step with the majority of Americans.”

Austin Cook, a spokesperson for Rep. Slotkin, told Fox News Digital that the congresswoman supports abortion up until the point of fetal viability.

“Congresswoman Slotkin supports the 50-year precedent set in Roe v. Wade, giving women the right to privacy in their own personal health decisions, including whether to end a pregnancy, up to the point of viability,” Cook told Fox News Digital. “If a woman’s health is at risk beyond that, a woman and her doctor — not the federal government — should make the decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy.”

Protesters march around the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix after the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022.
(Ross D. Franklin)

“Michiganders will have the opportunity to vote on the Roe standard this November, and Congresswoman Slotkin supports that ballot initiative. Voters will choose between the Roe standard, which we lived with for 50 years, and Michigan’s 1931 law, which bans abortions even in the case of violent rape or incest, and criminalizes women and doctors in the process,” Cook continued.

Democrats have spent $124 million on advertisements that mention “abortion,” which represents nearly 20 times more spending on the issue than the party did during the 2018 cycle, according to a recent analysis of election advertising by the Associated Press.

Pro-life protesters gather outside the Supreme Court.
(Joshua Comins)

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Despite the massive investment in abortion messaging, polling released over the weekend showed that abortion is no longer the top priority for many voters across the country. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll, abortion ranked seventh among the issues voters rated as “very important” to their vote, compared to 82% who said the economy was “very important” to them as they cast their vote.

While Democrats are placing abortion at the forefront of their campaigns and blasting their pro-life opponents for their “extreme” views on abortion, a May Fox News poll found that 54% of Americans favor banning abortion in their state after 15 weeks while only 41% oppose the ban.

The midterm elections will be held Nov. 8.