Republicans rally behind Herschel Walker after report he paid for abortion

GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker
(Image credit: Megan Varner/Getty Images)

As problems continued to brew Tuesday for Herschel Walker, the GOP's Senate candidate in Georgia, Republicans flocked to stand behind him following a controversy over an alleged abortion that he paid for.

While Walker has pushed a staunch pro-life, anti-abortion platform throughout his campaign, a new report published by The Daily Beast alleges that he once paid for the abortion of a woman he had gotten pregnant. The woman told The Daily Beast that Walker pressured her into getting an abortion following the 2009 pregnancy, and the outlet said the woman provided them with a copy of the receipt from the abortion clinic, as well as an image of a signed $700 check and a "get well" card from Walker.

The Daily Beast claims to have corroborated these details, and The New York Times reported that some Republicans had privately "feared" his abortion story would get out. Despite this, Walker called the woman's story "a flat-out lie" — and Republicans across the party soon came to his defense.

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This included Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), who said "Herschel has denied these allegations and the NRSC and Republicans stand with him."

Others, including the NRSC's communications director, Chris Hartline, blamed the Democrats for "[stirring] up nonsense about what has or hasn't happened in Herschel Walker's past."

Perhaps the most prominent Republican to back up Walker, though, was former President Donald Trump. In a statement, Trump claimed Walker "is being slandered and maligned by the Fake News Media and obviously, the Democrats."

FiveThirtyEight is reporting that Walker remains neck and neck with his opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

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Justin Klawans, The Week US

 Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other Hollywood news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.