COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno told The Washington Times his opponent, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, is weaponizing abortion in their campaign, even though there is no path to passing pro- or anti-abortion legislation in Congress.
Mr. Moreno, who has never held elected office, lamented that Mr. Brown made abortion a top issue in the Ohio race because regardless of who wins or which party controls the U.S. Senate, there will not be a filibuster-proof majority to pass federal abortion legislation of any kind.
“There is no ability to pass any abortion legislation in Washington, D.C., one way or another,” Mr. Moreno said in an interview with The Times. “That’s a fact.”
Mr. Brown and other Democratic lawmakers believe the abortion issue will help turn out voters for their party, just like it did in the 2022 midterm elections.
Abortion has been a top campaign issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent that provided a national right to abortion. In the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, the justices ruled there is no constitutional right to an abortion and deferred to the states on what restrictions, if any, to enact.
Last year, Ohio voters approved a ballot measure, 57% to 43%, enshrining the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The ballot measure was designed to quash the post-Dobbs enforcement of the state’s 2019 law banning most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which occurs as early as six weeks of pregnancy.
Mr. Brown is also hoping that highlighting the issue will win him some support from Republican and swing voters who supported the ballot measure.
“When the voters say they want something resoundingly, it’s really arrogant to say, ‘No, I know better than you. I want a national abortion ban,’” Mr. Brown said in an interview with NBC4 in Columbus last month. “So that’s one of the contrasts we will make.”
He supports legislation to restore the federal right to abortion that existed under Roe v. Wade.
Roe v. Wade guaranteed the right to abortion until viability, or when a fetus can live outside the womb, usually 24 to 28 weeks after conception.
Mr. Moreno said he agrees with the Dobbs decision and that he will “respect the will of the voters” in Ohio.
But the pro-life Catholic also said he would “aspirationally” support legislation to enact a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother — which he prefers to call “common-sense restrictions.”
“Not a ban by definition: The word ban means no. Restrictions mean you can’t just do it any way you want, so you don’t have elective late-term abortions,” Mr. Moreno said.
“The answer from the other side is usually, ‘Well, those don’t exist.’ Great, then we agree then,” he said, noting Democrats should at least agree to codify a ban on elective abortions at 35 weeks. “Even left-wing European countries that would consider themselves pro-choice and very liberal have some sort of standards.”
Mr. Moreno said he doesn’t see any such legislation advancing anytime soon, perhaps not even in the two six-year terms he plans to limit himself to if elected.
More immediately, he said lawmakers should be able to build bipartisan support for other policies that will help women facing reproductive decisions, like making birth control available over the counter.
“Women don’t have access to contraception in the same way that men do, at all,” Mr. Moreno said. “I could go to the drugstore right now — two minutes, I’m in and out with a Diet Coke and birth control. Women don’t have that. So let’s equalize access to contraception.”
He also said he wants to “spend resources in schools to have women empowered” and drive down the costs of adoptions and raising children.
Before the interview with the Times, Mr. Moreno spoke to a group of volunteers who were going door-knocking for him. He said Mr. Brown is using abortion as a “political weapon” while offering his own line of attack.
“My opponent wants federal funding for abortion,” he said. “He’s for partial-birth abortions. He voted against the Infant Born-Alive Protection Act. He’s an extremist on abortion.”
Mr. Moreno appeared to be referring to the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires health care providers to exercise the same degree of care for an infant born alive following an attempted abortion as any other child and imposes penalties for violations. Mr. Brown voted against the bill when it came up for a vote in 2020.
Mr. Brown’s campaign declined The Times’ request for an interview, instead providing a statement from a campaign spokesperson that slammed Mr. Moreno for “supporting a national abortion ban and calling Ohio women ‘a little crazy’ for caring about making their own health care choices.”
Mr. Brown’s campaign was referring to comments Mr. Moreno made at a town last month, which they’ve repeatedly used in recent weeks to further amp up voters concerned about abortion rights.
“You know, the left has a lot of single-issue voters. And sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else,’” Mr. Moreno said at the town hall. “OK. It’s a little crazy, by the way. But, especially for women that are like past 50, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”
With barely a pause, Mr. Moreno seemed to acknowledge it was an inartful attempt at a joke, saying, “Oh, thank God my wife didn’t hear that one.”
Mr. Moreno said in the interview with the Times that the line about women over 50 was a “quip.”
“Unfortunately, we live in a society where people wake up every day trying to be offended,” he said. “I’m sure you’ve said things that in the moment you thought were funny, and in retrospect, you’re like, ‘Hey, probably not the best wording I could have used, of course.’ And if I offended anybody, it’s not — it was never my intention to do.”
But Mr. Moreno defended the first part of the quote, saying the Brown campaign has twisted his words.
“I never said women were crazy. I said it’s crazy,” he said. “It is an adjective that does not refer to a female. It’s crazy that they’re made to look like women are single-issue voters. That is crazy because women are not single-issue voters.”
Mr. Brown has also attacked Mr. Moreno for shifting his position on abortion, citing comments he made when running in the 2022 Senate primary, saying he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions.”
“There’s no change in the position in the sense that I’ve always been pro-life,” Mr. Moreno said, citing his Catholic beliefs. “So the interview, if you notice, was clipped, so just those three words, because what I’m saying is that I am 100% pro-life. My faith is that. Yours can be different, and that’s totally allowed in America.”
However, in the interview with Breitbart from which that quote was pulled, the outlet reported that Mr. Moreno believed there should be no abortion exceptions for rape or incest, or anything else.
A Washington Post poll conducted early this month found that abortion was an important issue for 64% of registered Ohio voters. Of the 1,002 voters surveyed for the poll, 45% said Mr. Brown would do a better job on abortion, compared to 32% who said the same of Mr. Moreno.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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