Kari Lake clarifies her stance on abortion

Kari Lake, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, is seeking to moderate her position on abortion.

Kari Lake, the Arizona Republican candidate running for Senate, has proclaimed abortion “the ultimate sin,” said abortion pills should be illegal, and praised laws to restrict reproductive rights in other conservative-led states. In August, Lake was in Ohio to campaign for a ballot measure that would have made it more difficult to pass a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to abortion.

Now, Lake, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, is seeking to moderate her position in a way that acknowledges the tricky spot that Republicans find themselves after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that enshrined abortion rights nationally.

Lake said she believes Arizona will settle on a rule that offers access to abortion up to 15 to 24 weeks. She called the state’s current 15-week limit “a good law,” and told NBC News that she does not support Arizona’s controversial territorial rule, a near-total ban on abortion that is under dispute in the courts. As recently as November 2023, Lake responded to a question about her previous support for the territorial ban, saying, “I haven’t changed.”

A state ballot initiative is poised to go before voters later this year.

“It’s probably going to be the 15th week or whatever is in this ballot initiative,” Lake said of where she expects Arizonans to land. “I trust the people of Arizona to vote on this, if that’s what happens, and get this right.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/kari-lake-clarifies-stance-abortion-rcna141431

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