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John James has proudly touted his anti-abortion credentials, professing that he is “100% Pro-Life. Always have been. Always will be” and even comparing abortion to “genocide.” In Congress, he is part of a group that has endorsed legislation to outlaw IVF, voted to restrict abortion access nationwide, and backed a bill that would punish doctors.
But, according to NOTUS, on the campaign trail it is a different story. While he wages a war on women’s reproductive freedoms in Washington, with press and with voters James “says that abortion is a settled issue.”
DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
“John James has never truly had to answer for opposing abortion even in cases of rape and incest, but he certainly sees the writing on the wall. Since Michigan voted to protect abortion, he has desperately tried to run away from his record. We won’t let that happen and look forward to holding James accountable for his dangerous and lengthy anti-abortion agenda.”
NOTUS: John James Once Compared Abortion to ‘Genocide.’ Now He Says the Issue Is ‘Decided.’
Tinashe Chingarande | April 18, 2024
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Republicans have moved away from having a unified message on abortion, and Michigan Rep. John James — who has a long history of making ardently anti-abortion statements — is no exception.
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James, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans up for reelection, has been noticeably quiet on abortion as he runs this year. Increasingly, the party is parroting former President Donald Trump’s stance that abortion should be left up to the states. During a recent Detroit TV roundtable earlier this month, when asked where he stood on leaving abortion policy to the states or implementing a national 15-week ban, James demurred and said he believed that abortion policy was already a done deal in Michigan.
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“People in the state of Michigan already decided that no party, no person, no president would decide that for Michigan,” James said during the roundtable, referring to a 2022 proposal that enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution. “Despite the fearmongering that you hear on the left, the fact of the matter is that abortion is enshrined in our Constitution.”
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It’s a departure from how James talked about his anti-abortion stance extensively during his two failed Senate bids in 2018 and 2020 and likewise during his narrowly won House bid in 2022. In 2018, he said that he was “100% Pro-Life. Always have been. Always will be,” and he compared abortion to “genocide” at a campaign event. “They want to do away with our children — 50 million dead since Roe v. Wade,” he said.
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Democrats, however, see abortion as a potent attack against James.
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“John James has never truly had to answer for opposing abortion even in cases of rape and incest, but he certainly sees the writing on the wall,” Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told NOTUS. “Since Michigan voted to protect abortion, he has desperately tried to run away from his record.”
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In 2022, James said he would “always vote to protect the life of the mother and her child, before and after birth,” and he told The Detroit News last year he believed abortion was permissible in cases of rape and incest as well.
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Johnson added that Democrats would highlight James’ congressional voting record: In 2023, he voted against congressional efforts to codify abortion rights into law and has voted on the party line when other anti-abortion legislation has come to the floor.
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