Kari Lake acknowledges 'people are angry' as abortion debate gets heated
U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake released a five-minute video Thursday saying exceptions are needed for abortion laws as Arizona lawmakers struggle to decide what, if anything, they should do legislatively after the state’s Supreme Court upheld a 19th-century law that is a near-total ban on abortions.
The video mostly rehashes the Republican front-runner’s long-stated views that she personally opposes abortion, favors enactment of a “baby bonus” to encourage childbirth and her support for setting abortion rights at the state level.
But it also says she changed some of her views last year and seeks to recast Lake from an anti-abortion crusader who vocally supported reinstating Arizona’s 1864 law when she ran for governor to a Senate candidate pledging not to support a federal ban on abortion and acknowledging complexity on the issue.
"If you look at where the population is on this, a full ban on abortion is not where the people are," she said, alluding to Arizona’s law that is again set to control abortion rights.
The video included what amounted to a plea for public patience during a reckoning over what Arizona’s law should be without offering her view, which has shifted from her 2022 gubernatorial run to her 2024 Senate bid.
Lake privately has reached out to Arizona lawmakers urging them to repeal the territorial ban. At the same time, former President Donald Trump has pushed some in his party to support some less-restrictive policies on abortion rights, even as he welcomes a 50-state, 50-law approach to the issue ushered in by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
“Right now, we’re in that part where we’re deciding the issue, and, yes, it’s painful,” Lake said. “Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, there are emotions that are so strong, and people are angry, and people are sad and they’re furious. This is the difficult part."
A day after the state Supreme Court upheld the 1864 law, the Republican-controlled Legislature froze up Wednesday without taking action on a move to fully repeal that measure. In 2022, the Legislature enacted a law that generally allows abortions up to 15 weeks into pregnancy, but that law kept in place an exception for allowing the territorial law to remain in place if allowed.
By making the video at all, Lake’s campaign seems to be conceding that the political fallout from Tuesday’s ruling is far from settled, and could be perilous for Republicans who have supported the ban on all abortions except to save the life of a mother.
It comes as U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is the only prominent member of his party running for the Senate, has taken to national news outlets to cast Lake as an extremist and to fundraise for his campaign.
Lake’s continued statements also stand in contrast to Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who has not offered any public remarks on his view of Tuesday’s ruling.
“I never would ever assume that any woman had the same exact feelings that I had or situation I had,” Lake said in her video. “We know that some women are economically in a horrible situation. They might be in an abusive relationship. They might be the victim of rape. I agree with President Trump, we must have exceptions for rape, incest and the life of a mother.”
Lake said a visit to Hungary last summer helped reshape her views on abortion.
“It completely changed my view of how we should deal with this complicated, difficult issue,” she said. Lake said Hungary provides tax-related incentives that reward family creation and that is something she wants in the U.S. as well.
Gallego’s campaign dismissed Lake’s video as an attempt to revise her record on the issue.
“Kari Lake will say or do anything to get power, but her longstanding record of wanting to ban abortion is clear. She called this near-total ban without exceptions for rape or incest a ‘great law.’ Arizonans know not to trust her,” the Gallego campaign said in a written statement.
Lake, who is running for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., called the territorial law “out of step with Arizonans” when the ruling was handed down on Tuesday. Since joining the Senate race in October, Lake has said she would oppose a federal ban on abortions, a point she repeated in her latest video.
In June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court erased federal abortion rights, Lake specifically welcomed a return to the Civil War-era law in Arizona.
“I’m incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that’s already on the books. I believe it’s (Arizona Revised Statutes) 1336-03 that will prohibit abortion in Arizona except to save the life of a mother,” she said in an interview with KFYI (550 AM) on the day of that ruling. “I think we’re going to be paving the way and setting course for other states to follow.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake's new abortion position explained in 5-minute campaign video
