LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron appeared to soften his hardline opposition to abortion on Monday, telling a Kentucky radio station he would support amending the state’s abortion ban to add exceptions that enable the termination of pregnancies resulting from rape. or incest.
Cameron, the state’s attorney general, has steadfastly supported Kentucky’s current law that bans all abortions except when performed to save a pregnant woman’s life or prevent a debilitating injury.
But during an interview with WHAS-AM, Cameron indicated that if elected governor, he would be willing to sign legislation providing exceptions to abortion for cases of rape and incest.
“There’s no question about that,” the Republican challenger said.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s campaign accused Cameron of hiding his established “extreme views” on the abortion issue.
“Throughout his time in office, even before this campaign began, Daniel Cameron has made it clear that he supports Kentucky’s extreme abortion ban, with no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest,” Beshear campaign spokesman Alex Floyd said in a statement. reiterated that position in public statements, questionnaires, press interviews and debates.”
“Either the recent polls have changed Cameron’s core beliefs or he is lying to Kentuckians now that the election is seven weeks away,” Floyd added.
Cameron’s shift could be the latest indication that more Republicans are viewing the abortion issue as a political liability. In the first national election since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Roe v. Wade, voters protected abortion rights through ballot measures in several states, including Kentucky. The Cameron-Beshear showdown in the Bluegrass State is one of the nation’s most closely watched elections in 2023.
The abortion issue recently came to the forefront of the campaign when Beshear’s campaign launched a TV ad linking Cameron to an extreme scenario — requiring young victims of rape or incest to carry out their pregnancies.
The ad represents a role reversal in this socially conservative state — where Republicans have traditionally gone on the offensive in statewide races touting their opposition to abortion. Now Beshear has become the aggressor of his anti-abortion challenger from the Republican Party — a sign of the willingness among Democrats to press the issue since the Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right to abortion last year.
Former President Donald Trump has warned Republicans against locking themselves into positions that are unpopular with a majority of the public, and has argued that the Supreme Court’s decision gives abortion opponents the right to “negotiate” restrictions where they live, rather than relying on federal restrictions.
Cameron touted his anti-abortion credentials during the crowded Republican Party primaries in the spring. But since winning the gubernatorial nomination, Cameron and his allies have generally downplayed the abortion issue while focusing on other issues, including crime rates and transgender rights.
Cameron staked much of his political identity on his fervent opposition to abortion. As attorney general, his office has defended the state’s abortion ban in court. During a Republican primary debate in March, Cameron expressed support for the law.
When asked Monday for a follow-up statement following Cameron’s radio comments, his campaign said he supports the current abortion ban law. “But if the situation in Kentucky were to change and the Legislature presented him with a bill to add exceptions for rape and incest, he would obviously sign it,” the report said.
Beshear’s campaign said this amounted to Cameron doubling down in support of the current ban.
“The Cameron campaign’s statement today says he supports a law banning abortion with no exceptions for survivors of rape and incest,” Floyd said.
Beshear has consistently called the state’s abortion ban an “extremist” law that he says the “vast majority” of Kentuckians disagree with, pointing to the lack of exceptions for rape and incest. In the past, he has said it gives rape survivors “no options, despite the fact that they have suffered harm and that what they are going through is absolutely not their own fault.”
Addia Wuchner, executive director of Kentucky Right to Life, recently said that rape and incest exceptions have become “talking points” among abortion rights groups and politicians.
“Is a child conceived as a result of rape or incest less human, or has less dignity, than a child conceived in the loving embrace of its parents?” said Wuchner.
She did not immediately comment Monday on Cameron’s comments that he would sign legislation that would add exceptions for rape or incest. A bill to allow exceptions for terminating pregnancies caused by rape or incest was introduced in the 2023 session but failed to make progress in the Republican Party-dominated state legislature.
Last year, abortion rights advocates won a rare victory in Kentucky when voters rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying any constitutional protections for abortion. It came after Republican lawmakers spent years eroding access to the procedure in the Bluegrass State.
