Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks took aim at her Republican opponent, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, on Wednesday over his stance on abortion.
Alsobrooks spoke at a pro-abortion rights rally, where she criticized Hogan’s statements that abortion should be legal up to 26 weeks of pregnancy, the standard set by the ruling. the United States Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe v. Wade. That decision was reversed in 2022, and states can now pass their own laws regulating abortion, which has galvanized Democrats nationally, who are campaigning to protect abortion access while Republicans seek to limit or prohibit this procedure.
“I don’t believe these decisions should be left to politicians,” Alsobrooks told reporters Wednesday. “The decision regarding reproductive choice, regarding the freedom to access abortion belongs to this woman. And for her, it is a family decision. The woman, her family and her doctor. I believe that the politicians, Larry Hogan, should get out of the exam room.”
When asked whether access to abortion should be banned, Alsobrooks said “no.”
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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks during her pro-choice press conference outside the American Visionary Art Museum. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“I believe the decision is up to the woman and her doctor,” she said, highlighting the circumstances in which a pregnant woman’s life can be in danger without medical intervention.
Hogan, a moderate who served two terms as the popular GOP governor of blue state Maryland, recently came out as “pro-choice” and said the issue of abortion should not be decided by the “extremes” of both sides.
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A supporter of Angela Alsobrooks carries campaign signs outside the polling place at Thomas Johnson Elementary and Middle School, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in Baltimore. (Wesley Lapointe for the Washington Post via Getty Images)
In a 30-second campaign ad released this week, Hogan agreed with Democrats that “no one should come between a woman and her doctor.”
“Today, with the overturning of Roe, many have asked what I would do in the United States Senate. I will support legislation that makes Roe the law of every state so that every woman can make her own choice,” he said. he declared in the ad.
The GOP nominee clarified his position in a radio interview Wednesday, saying he supports a compromise bill proposed by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., it would codify Roe into federal law.
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Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan speaking at an annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, November 18, 2022. (AP Photo/John Locher, file)
“The Democrats want to go much further,” Hogan told WBAL.
“I have done nothing to deprive Maryland women of access to abortion,” Hogan said, noting his record as governor.
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“I don’t think that this is the basis on which the elections will be decided. And my assessment is very clear,” he added.
The latest Fox News poll shows that the issue of abortion is the most important issue among self-proclaimed democrats (24%), suburban women (24%), self-described very liberal (23%), black voters (17%), college graduates (17%), and voters under 30 (16%).
Brooke Singman of Fox News contributed to this report.
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