Seizing on abortion, Democrats claim Republicans back no-exceptions bans. That isn’t true for all

Galvanized by the Supreme Court’s decision to end nearly 50 years of federally protected abortion access, Democrats are elevating abortion in their campaigns and putting Republicans on the defensive ahead of the Nov. 8 elections. 

Abortion was the top issue mentioned in broadcast TV ads in races for the Senate, House and governor from Sept. 19 through Oct. 2, according to the Wesleyan Media Project at Wesleyan University. Democrats have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads about abortion in the past three months, Axios reported, citing data from Bully Pulpit Interactive firm.

Some of these online and TV ads portray Republicans as being extreme in their anti-abortion positions. They insist these conservative candidates would ban abortion with no exceptions, even for rape, incest or the life of the mother.

"The ads are designed to either drive a wedge between pro-life voters and Republicans, which is bad for Republicans, or between Republicans and the median voter, which is bad for Republicans," said Mary Ziegler, a historian on abortion and law professor at University of California, Davis. 

How much the advertising will affect voters is unclear.

Asked whether abortion is a critical issue to them, 36% of Americans said yes, according to a survey sponsored by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank that was conducted Aug. 12 to Aug.  21. The top issues were inflation, gun policy, crime and what students are taught in school.

But 56% of registered voters said the issue of abortion will be very important in their midterm vote, up from 43% in March, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted Aug. 1 to Aug. 14.

The ads on abortion "shift attention away from the economy and inflation to an issue that puts the Republicans on the defensive, while highlighting an issue that motivates not just the Democratic base, but has crossover appeal among independents and nonpartisans," University of Nevada, Las Vegas political scientist David Damore said.

PolitiFact found Democratic ads in U.S. Senate races in battleground states that were too sweeping in claiming that Republicans supported abortion bans with no exceptions.

In Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, ads making the no-exceptions claims about Republican candidates for Senate were only partially accurate.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which backs Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., claimed in an ad on Facebook and Instagram that Republican Adam Laxalt "would let Nevada and other states ban abortion with zero exceptions." Our rating was Half True. 

Laxalt supports letting states decide what restrictions to put on abortions. But we found no examples of Laxalt stating support for laws banning abortions with no exceptions.

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee challenging GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, made his claim in a TV ad that launched in early October. A woman in the ad says Johnson "supported a ban on abortions. He co-sponsored a bill that makes no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the woman." The claim is repeated in words on the screen, along with a New York Times logo. 

But Johnson has often couched his longstanding opposition to abortion with the need for exeptions.

A Johnson campaign website says he supports "exceptions to abortion restrictions in the case of rape, incest, or the life of the mother." He has also expressed support for adding exceptions to Wisconsin’s law.

Wisconsin's 1849 law banning abortions except in situations where the mother’s life is in danger went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision in June. Johnson said in September: "I’ve said about the 1849 law, it doesn’t include the exceptions" for rape and incest. "I would at minimum want it updated for that." 

In the race for an open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, where Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman faces GOP candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, an ad from Planned Parenthood Votes left viewers wondering whether Oz supports any exceptions. Oz "is so extreme he'd ban abortion," the female narrator says. 

Oz supported overturning Roe v. Wade, but supports abortion access in cases of rape, incest and if the mother’s life is in danger. In an NBC News interview Oct. 13, he reiterated that position but also said: "I also feel very strongly the federal government should not — I’ll repeat, should not — get involved in state issues around abortion … I don’t want any federal rules limiting what states do with abortion."

The no-exceptions claim was more accurate in ads for the Senate race in Georgia.

Georgia Honor, a super PAC supporting Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, said in a recent ad that Republican Herschel Walker "wants a complete ban on abortion, without exceptions for survivors of rape or incest or to save a woman’s life." 

The ad quoted news stories saying Walker supported no exceptions and a video clip of Walker saying: "There are no exceptions in my mind." 

Walker told reporters after a May campaign speech that he supports abortion bans without any exceptions for rape, incest or the mother’s health, saying: "There’s no exception in my mind. Like I say, I believe in life, I believe in life."

A Warnock ad and ads from Planned Parenthood Action made essentially the same claim.

Mentions of abortion in pro-Republican ads are rare, according to the Wesleyan report and an analysis by The Associated Press. 

The ads we have checked out from the GOP side have also presented the abortion issue in an extreme light.

Restoration PAC, a conservative super PAC, invoked "preemies" in a recent Wisconsin ad, saying Barnes supports killing "infants born prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy." The very nature of the word "preemie" implies that the baby has already been born. There’s no evidence that Barnes supports killing babies who have already been born. That’s illegal under existing laws. 

Laxalt took a different tack. The narrator in one ad of his blames Democrats for causing changes such as crime, then pivots: "But one thing hasn't changed: abortion in Nevada" remains legal.

No-exceptions claims have also been made in Democratic ads in House races, including in Georgia, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia; and in races for governor, including in Wisconsin. 

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers claimed in an ad launched Oct. 4 that Republican Tim Michels "wants a state-mandated ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother." But PolitiFact reported a week earlier that Michels had done a Full Flop on his position, saying he supports exceptions for rape and incest. 

The primacy of abortion in advertising reached another level in Louisiana.

Democrat Katie Darling, who is running a long-shot campaign against Rep. Steve Scalise, the House Republican whip, says in a 75-second ad that she worries about a number of issues, including "Louisiana’s new abortion ban, one of the strictest, and most severe, in the country." 

The ad includes video clips of Darling giving birth to her second child, Ollie.

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