National Democrats hit Trump and Schweikert for backtracking on reproductive rights

National Democratic groups are seizing the opportunity to highlight Republicans’ shifting rhetoric on abortion rights after the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a near-total ban on abortion.

They are taking aim at candidates in several of Arizona’s top-of-the-ticket races.

On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee will launch a billboard campaign in the Phoenix and Tempe areas alleging that Trump is responsible for Tuesday’s ruling.

“Abortion is banned in Arizona thanks to Donald Trump. He won’t stop until it’s banned nationwide,” five billboards will read, some in English and others in Spanish.

In a platform released on Monday, Trump called for state-level laws on the issue rather than a national one, though he has suggested his support for a national law in the past.

Reached for comment about the billboard's message, Trump’s campaign called President Joe Biden and his team "dishonest."

"President Trump could not have been more clear. These decisions should be left to the states to 'determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both,'" spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement.

The Democrats’ congressional campaign arm is using a billboard campaign to target Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., an Arizona member of Congress seen as vulnerable this year.

Schweikert has said he was “pleased” by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. But he criticized Tuesday’s state high court decision, writing "this issue should be decided by Arizonans, not legislated from the bench."

On Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee deployed a “mobile billboard” truck to traverse Schweikert’s district, which includes Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills and parts of north Phoenix, focusing on his past support for legislation that Democrats argue clashes with his recently stated position on in-vitro fertilization.

The mobile billboard bore the message: “David Schweikert supported a bill that could outlaw IVF nationwide.”

As recently as 2021, Schweikert co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, which would have established a “right to life” extending to “all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.”

That appears to be at odds with Schweikert’s recently stated position that “IVF is a valuable and important tool for many Arizona families” and he would “oppose any effort to restrict it.” Schweikert did not co-sponsor the Life at Conception Act when it was re-introduced in 2023.

“House Republicans will stop at nothing — including outlawing in vitro fertilization — to reach their ultimate goal: banning abortion and restricting reproductive rights nationwide,” Lauryn Fanguen, a DCCC spokesperson, wrote in a statement to The Arizona Republic.

Opinion: Abortion ruling is a full-on disaster for Arizona Republicans

In an interview, Schweikert countered that the billboard’s claim was misleading.

“The magic word there is ‘could.’ But I don’t think it does (outlaw IVF),” he said.

Pressed on specific language in the bill, the congressman replied, “I don’t know” whether it would call into question the legality of IVF, and said it was meant as a statement of anti-abortion principles.

Schweikert pointed out that he co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act before Roe vs. Wade was overturned. He said that decision “changed the playing field” and suggested he did not back the same bill in 2023 because “the issue now belongs to the states.”

“The world is very different today,” he said. “I think that’s pretty consistent.”

If there was some sort of technicality in the bill, "that’s fine, attack me," he said. "But I think we’ve been pretty clear I’m pro-life."

Schweikert, who is adopted, has said his viewpoint on the topic is informed by the fact that his birth mother considered but ultimately decided against getting an abortion.

Tuesday’s abortion-law decision is likely to boost Democratic turnout this year in Arizona, a swing state in this year’s presidential election.

Laura Gersony covers national politics for the Arizona Republic. Contact her at lgersony@gannett.com or 480-372-0389.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Democrats hit Donald Trump and David Schweikert on reproductive issues