GOP candidates’ staff-turned-clean-up-crew forced to split with their candidates’ own toxic records

Spokespeople walk back candidates’ hardline support for abortion bans in cases of rape and incest

PHOENIX — Republican candidates for governor and their campaign teams just can’t figure out whether a 14-year-old girl raped by a family member should be forced to carry her attacker’s baby to term.

Karrin Taylor Robson, an out-of-touch candidate whose “willingness to spend millions of her own money” for governor and is still losing to Kari Lake, brushed off pregnant victims of rape and incest by saying:

“I believe that life begins at conception and, quite frankly, the instance of pregnancies occurring in violent situations are extremely rare. In fact, it’s estimated that in less than 2% of those situations did pregnancy occur. I would go back to making sure that every woman, regardless of their age or circumstance, knows that there are non-violent choices available to them.”

Robson opposes exceptions to rape and incest

Robson has repeatedly indicated that she has no empathy toward the 3 million women in the U.S. who will experience a rape-related pregnancy in their lifetime and has supported Arizona’s 15-week ban as well as the Texas abortion ban, neither of which include exceptions for rape or incest:

Robson’s spokesman walks back candidate’s comments

But this week, Robson’s spokesman Matt Benson had to walk back Robson’s hugely unpopular clear opposition to an exception for rape or incest and told the Arizona Republic:

“Karrin’s position is that abortion must be outlawed except when the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest or the mother’s life is in danger.”

Lake opposes exceptions to rape and incest

Meanwhile, GOP frontrunner Lake said she opposes exceptions to abortion:

  • Lake said, “I’ve never heard anybody make a good case for killing a baby. And so therefore I am pro-life 100%. I’m against abortion.”

  • Voicing support for Arizona’s 1901 pre-Roe ban which criminalizes abortion, Lake said in February, “We have a great law on the books right now.”

  • In support of Texas’ bounty hunter-style abortion ban which does not provide for an exception for rape or incest, Lake said, “I call on the Arizona legislature to put a carbon copy of Texas S.B. 8 on the Governor’s desk. If my predecessor refuses to sign it, I will do so in a heartbeat.”

  • Suggesting women who have an abortion may go to hell, Lake said, “I believe that abortion is the ultimate sin” and “that’s my personal belief.”

Lake’s campaign walks back candidate’s comments

Lake is willing to take the most far-flung, out-of-touch positions on everything from letting people own rocket launchers to putting cameras in classrooms, but her opposition to exceptions was even a step too far for her spokesperson.

After Friday’s Supreme Court decision, the campaign told The Arizona Republic that “Kari is pro-life but supports exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”

Hobbs unequivocal on abortion

Arizona women deserve to know whether out-of-touch Republican candidates for governor think they should be forced to give birth after being raped, and they need to hear it directly from the candidates’ mouths, not from their spokespeople who are worried about the blowback they will receive in November.

Meanwhile, Katie Hobbs minces no words over her stance on abortion:

“Governors are now the final line of defense to protect access to safe and legal abortion, and it’s never been more urgent to vote for pro-choice champions at the state level. As governor, I will use my veto pen to block any legislation that compromises the right to choose, and I will do everything in my power to secure women’s rights for the next generation.”