Kari Lake’s 7 steps to complete confusion on abortion

If you’re confused by Arizona MAGA Senate candidate Kari Lake’s position on abortion, don’t feel bad. So is she. Since the Arizona Supreme Court decided that a 160-year-old ban on abortions works just fine in 2024, Lake has made so many 180 degree turns in her position on the issue, she can’t help but be addled. Step 1. Go back to 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Lake said she was “incredibly thrilled” that Arizona’s “great law that’s already on the books” could now be enforced. “I believe it’s ARS 13-3603 that will prohibit abortion in Arizona except to save the life of a mother. I think we’re going to be paving the way and setting course for other states to follow,” she said. When you can quote the statute number of an 1864 law, you’re most likely a zealot on the issue.  Step 2. Once the state court decided to uphold that “great law,” she wasn’t so keen on it. “I oppose today's ruling, and I am calling on [Gov.] Katie Hobbs and the State Legislature to come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support,” she said in a statement, looking for outside help to get her out of the forced-birth hole she dug herself into. Step 3. In a five-and-a half minute video posted last week—with a soft focus lens and a soothing soundtrack—Lake reiterated her brand-new position that the “total ban on abortion that the Arizona Supreme Court just ruled on is out of line,” and insisted that women must have choice. “I chose life, but I’m not every woman,” she said, in an effort to sound like a reasonable person. “I want to make sure that every woman who finds herself pregnant has more choices so that she can make that choice that I made.” Step 4. In the same video, Lake declared, “I agree with President Trump. We must have exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of a mother.” Exceptions to what, Ms. Lake? A total abortion ban? If you don’t have a ban, you don’t really need exceptions now, do you? Step 5. It’s field trip to Hungary, again in the same video. Yes, Hungary. “You know I had a real eye-opening experience this last summer,” she said. “I had the opportunity to visit Hungary and it completely changed my view of how we should deal with this complicated, difficult issue.” The answer? Tax cuts. Because of course it is. Make it okay for women to be forced to give birth by giving them a break on their taxes. And make the tax cut bigger every time they pop out another kid. Brilliant. Step 6. Since that video seemed to make Lake’s abortion position slightly more clear, her next is just to re-embrace the law. It’s not such a big deal, she said in an interview Tuesday. Because people needing abortions can just “go three hours that way, three hours that way, and you’re going to be able to have an abortion.” That’s an answer that’s going to please no one, not the women of Arizona who have had their basic rights stripped away, or Lake’s friends in the forced-birth community who want abortion shut down in Arizona’s neighboring states. Step 7. The final step? Losing the Senate race to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego. Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics just changed its rating of the Arizona Senate race from “toss-up” to “leans Democratic” because of “the increased importance of abortion rights in the state following a blockbuster state court decision last week as well as recent Democratic fundraising strength.” That fundraising strength likely has a lot to do with Gallego’s position on abortion, which he’s continuing to press. And he does so brilliantly in this hard-hitting ad reminding Arizonans that for all her contortions in the last few weeks, Lake is militantly anti-abortion. YouTube Video Please donate $10 or even $20 now to boost Ruben Gallego’s bid for the Senate! RELATED STORIES: Republicans wanted Arizona's abortion ban—until they got it Trump's abortion gambit is going off the rails Instead of fixing Arizona abortion law, Republicans take a vacation