Tim Michels flips position on allowing rape, incest exceptions to state abortion ban

Tim Michels has long had a consistent opinion on Wisconsin’s 1849 law that bans abortion: He supports it the way it was written. 

That is, until a few days ago. 

Michels, the Republican challenger to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in Wisconsin’s tight gubernatorial race, changed his tune during a Sept. 23, 2022 conversation on WISN radio with conservative talk show host Dan O’Donnell.  

He told O’Donnell he would sign legislation, if it was brought to his desk as governor, that would create an exception to the state’s ban for people who become pregnant after being raped or as a result of incest. 

"I am pro-life and make no apologies for that," Michels said. "But I also understand that this is a representative democracy. And if the people — in this case, the Legislature — brought a bill before me, as you just stated, I would sign that." 

It’s a big reversal for Michels, who said a few weeks earlier that he was being pressured to soften his stance on the abortion ban but would not do so. 

All of this means it’s time to break out our Flip-O-Meter, which measures a person’s consistency on an issue. (It doesn’t make value judgments on whether a change makes for good or bad politics or policy.)

Let’s look back at Michels’ statements on the issue. 

Michels’ history of comments indicates he did not support such exceptions

Wisconsin’s abortion law, which was passed a year after it became a state, bans the procedure in nearly all cases, except if it is necessary "to save the life of the mother." 

When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, granting a constitutional right to an abortion, that meant the Wisconsin law could not be applied. It is at issue again since the high court threw out Roe v. Wade this summer.

Evers and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul are challenging the 1849 law in court, arguing it was superseded by more recent legislation.

In any case, there aren’t exceptions to the law for people who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. A recent Marquette Law School poll found that 90% of respondents supported an exception to the ban in those circumstances, including 81% of Republicans polled. 

Here’s what Michels has said about whether he supports such exceptions in the past: 

• During his U.S. Senate run in 2004, when asked whether a woman who was raped and became pregnant should be forced to have the baby, Michels said: "To ask (a woman) to go through the birth is not unreasonable when you talk about killing the life of that baby." 

• In a June interview with WISN-TV, Michels said that the 1849 law is an "exact mirror" of his position, and even emphasized that he did not support rape or incest exceptions.

• At a Sept. 6 GOP event in Dane County, Michels said he’d been fielding calls from people who were suggesting he should support rape or incest exceptions, and that he would not soften his stance.

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That’s a pretty stark contrast from his Sept. 23 remarks to Dan O’Donnell. 

Michels’ spokesperson Anna Kelly told us the candidate’s personal beliefs on the issue have not changed. 

Michels, she said, "understands that a governor is part of a process with other elected representatives of the people in a democracy. That's why, when asked a specific process question about a specific piece of legislation that could come before him, he gave a straightforward answer. He said he would sign a bill that had more exceptions than he personally believes in."

Fair enough. 

But just weeks prior, when he presumably held the same beliefs, he boasted at the GOP event that he would not soften his position.

Our ruling 

Dating back to his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate, and as recently as earlier this month, Michels said he would not support an exception to Wisconsin’s abortion ban for cases of rape or incest. 

He told O’Donnell he would now sign that kind of legislation. 

That’s a clear and complete change in position.

That’s what we call a Full Flop.