Herschel Walker denies paying for girlfriend's abortion 13 years ago, maintains pro-life support
One of the nation's largest pro-life advocacy organizations has reiterated its support for U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker after he denied claims that he paid for his girlfriend to have an abortion 13 years ago.
Walker, a Republican, is running against incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in a race that could help decide whether Republicans or Democrats hold the U.S. Senate majority for the next two years.
Walker took to Twitter to vehemently deny allegations made in a Monday Daily Beast article that the former football star paid for his former girlfriend to have an abortion in 2009.
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"This is a flat-out lie and I deny this in the strongest possible terms," he asserted in a statement posted to the social media platform.
Canvassers with the national pro-life grassroots advocacy group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America have visited over 300,000 homes across Georgia to voice support for Walker and other pro-life candidates, the organization's vice president Mallory Carroll told Forbes.
“Herschel Walker has denied these allegations in the strongest possible terms, and we stand firmly alongside him,” Carroll said. “To date, our Georgia field team has visited more than 310,000 homes across the state in support of pro-life candidates like Herschel and against the extremism of Sen. Warnock and Stacey Abrams, and we will continue through Election Day.”
The Daily Beast article in question reads:
"A woman who asked not to be identified out of privacy concerns told The Daily Beast that after she and Walker conceived a child while they were dating in 2009 he urged her to get an abortion. The woman said she had the procedure and that Walker reimbursed her for it. She supported these claims with a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic and a 'get well' card from Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 check from Walker."
The Daily Beast provided a photograph of the "get well" card the woman said she received from Walker, maintaining that the signature on the card matches the former football player's "distinctive autograph flourish."
Regarding the latest Democrat attack: pic.twitter.com/OjrDcGak95
— Herschel Walker (@HerschelWalker) October 3, 2022
"This is another repugnant hatchet job from a democrat activist disguised as a reporter who has obsessively attacked my family and tried to tear me down since this race started," Walker stated.
"He's harassed friends of mine, asking if I fathered their children. He's called my children 'secret' because I didn't want to use them as campaign props in a political campaign. Now they're using an anonymous source to further slander me. They will do anything to hold on to power. It's disgusting, gutter politics."
Walker announced his intention to sue The Daily Beast for advancing what he has characterized as a "defamatory lie."
He appeared on Fox News Monday night, describing the claim at the center of The Daily Beast report as a "flat-out lie." He suggested that the story was part of an effort to derail his Senate campaign.
"They'll do anything to win this seat," Walker maintained. "I never asked anyone to get an abortion, I never paid for an abortion. It is a lie."
In an article published Wednesday, the Daily Beast insisted that the woman who has accused Walker of pushing for her to get an abortion is also the mother of one of his four children. The quotes attributed to the woman call into question the sincerity of Walker's Christian faith, which he has made a centerpiece of his campaign.
"I don't think there's anywhere in the Bible where it says 'Have four kids with four different women while you're with another woman.' Or where it praises not being a present parent. Or that an abortion is an OK to do when it's not the right time for you, but a terrible thing for anyone else to do when you are running for Senate. He picks and chooses where it's convenient for him to use that religious crutch."
The woman also claimed, "He didn't accept responsibility for the kid we did have together, and now he isn't accepting responsibility for the one that we didn't have." She also brought up his professed opposition to abortion on the campaign trail, lamenting that "he wants to take that choice away from other women and couples entirely."
Walker's campaign issued a very brief statement in response to the latest Daily Beast story, stressing that "There is no truth to this or any other Daily Beast report."
The claims about Walker funding his girlfriend's abortion come as the Republican candidate has received much support from pro-life activist groups and volunteers.
In addition to the woman interviewed by the Daily Beast, Walker has also faced an onslaught of criticism from his son Christian in the past few days.
In a series of tweets posted Monday, Christian Walker expressed his desire for his father to "stop lying and making a mockery of us."
I know my mom and I would really appreciate if my father Herschel Walker stopped lying and making a mockery of us.
— Christian Walker (@ChristianWalk1r) October 4, 2022
You’re not a “family man” when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence.
"You're not a 'family man' when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence," he wrote. "I don't care about someone who has a bad past and takes accountability, but how DARE YOU LIE and act as though you're some 'moral, Christian, upright man.' You've lived a life of DESTROYING other peoples lives. How dare you."
Recalling that "every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office," Christian Walker suggested that "he decided to give us all the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it."
Christian Walker said he was "done" remaining silent about his father's personal life.
Shortly after Christian Walker posted his tweets, the Senate candidate tweeted: "I LOVE my son no matter what."
I LOVE my son no matter what
— Herschel Walker (@HerschelWalker) October 4, 2022
The Daily Beast reports outlining allegations against Walker come slightly more than a month before the 2022 midterm elections.
The current RealClearPolitics polling average of the Georgia Senate race shows Warnock with a 3.8-point lead over Walker. However, Georgia law requires candidates to receive at least 50% of the vote to get elected. Should neither candidate receive 50% of the vote, they will face off in a Dec. 6 runoff.
Warnock, who won a special election to fill the remainder of now-deceased Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson's term upon his early retirement in 2021, has baggage of his own.
A court filing obtained by The Washington Free Beacon reveals that the senator has "failed and refused to reimburse" his ex-wife for "childcare expenses for the children" that materialized during time periods when he had custody of their children.
According to the court document, Warnock "failed and refused to exercise his Parenting Time as previously agreed to and ordered," noting that when he does have custody over his children, "he often solicits the assistance of caretakers and friends, thereby delegating his time to other individuals, rather than adhering to the 'Right of First Refusal' signed in the original parenting plan."
Video footage from 2020 reveals Warnock's ex-wife telling police officers that he ran over her foot with his car. However, police officers say they were not shown any evidence that Warnock ran over her foot.
"This man's running for the United States Senate and all he cares about is his reputation," she insisted. "I work at the mayor's office, and this is a big problem. I've been trying to be very quiet about the way that he is for the sake of my kids and his reputation. I've tried to keep the way that he acts under wraps for a long time, and today he crossed the line. So that is what is going on here, and he's a great actor. He is phenomenal at putting on a really good show."
Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock's ex-wife on his character after he allegedly ran over her foot with his car:
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) December 23, 2020
"I've tried to keep the way he acts under wraps for a long time, & today he crossed the line... He is a great actor. He is phenomenal at putting on a really good show." pic.twitter.com/0SuLy1IPub
Warnock was arrested in 2002 on a charge of obstructing an investigation into child abuse that reportedly occurred at a summer camp run by the church in Baltimore where he served as a senior pastor at the time. The charge was dismissed, and Warnock denied any wrongdoing when reports of his arrest resurfaced in 2020.
The Georgia Senate race is one of several races that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate for the last two years of President Joe Biden's term in office.
Republicans only need a net gain of one seat to gain control of the U.S. Senate, which is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Currently, Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Democrats, thereby giving them control of the upper chamber.
RealClearPolitics polling averages show Republican Adam Laxalt leading in a Democrat-held seat in Nevada while Democrat John Fetterman leads in a Republican-held seat in Pennsylvania. In addition to the Georgia Senate race, Democrats have narrow leads in Arizona, Colorado, New Hampshire and Washington. Republicans have small leads for Republican-held seats in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin.
FiveThirtyEight's Deluxe Model, which predicts the outcome of elections based on "polls, fundraising, past voting patterns" and the analysis of political experts, gives Democrats a 67% of retaining control of the Senate. The model currently gives Warnock a 59% chance of winning the Senate race in Georgia. It gives the incumbent party at least a 90% chance of winning all the Senate races on the ballot this year that RealClearPolitics has not identified as competitive.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
