Bacon, who co-sponsored a national abortion ban in 2021 and 2019, was caught trying to distance himself from the issue for political gain when he didn’t sign on to the same bill this Congress.
But he made his anti-abortion extremism crystal clear when he gave a bogus excuse for not supporting the legislation again, claiming it was due to the bill’s “lack of exceptions” for life of the woman – despite the previous versions having zero exceptions.
In typical Don Bacon fashion, he’s lying and trying to muddy the water on his record because he’ll do or say anything to stay in Washington.
DCCC Spokesperson Mallory Payne:
“I’m not sure which is worse – the fact that Don Bacon’s extreme anti-abortion record is hurting Nebraska women or that he’s playing political games with their reproductive freedom.”
It was a year before the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade. Ms. Steel was one of 166 House Republicans — then roughly three-quarters of the conference — who would ultimately sign on to the legislation, which amounted to a nationwide abortion ban.
By last year, when House Republicans introduced identical legislation, the landscape had changed considerably. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe, setting off a race by many states to impose severe restrictions, and abortion bans became a politically toxic issue for Republicans in elections across the country.
Over the year and a half since the Dobbs decision, it has become clear to many Republicans that taking away a right that women have had for decades does not lead to a positive political outcome for them.
Two other Republicans whose districts Mr. Biden won in 2020, Representatives Don Bacon of Nebraska and David Schweikert of Arizona, have also not signed on this year, even though they supported the bill in the past.
Some former cosponsors have provided a reason for withholding their support this time around, and others have not. Mr. Bacon has said he does not support the 2023 legislation because it does not include a clear exception for the life of the mother. (The 2021 version that he backed also did not.)
