McCormick Endorsed Judge Carolyn Carluccio, Judge Harry Smail, and Maria Battista Each of Whom Are Backed by Anti-Choice Group in Favor of Extreme Abortion Bans
PENNSYLVANIA — David McCormick has endorsed dangerous anti-abortion Republican Judge Carolyn Carluccio, Judge Harry Smail, and Maria Battista in this November’s election for Pennsylvania’s Supreme and Superior Courts. Like Carluccio, Smail, and Battista, McCormick supports banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Earlier this year, Judge Carluccio was caught trying to scrub her anti-abortion stances from her campaign website, where she said she’d be a defender for “all life under the law.” Both Judges Carluccio and Smail have been endorsed by the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, and Battista is recommended by the organization.The group supports dangerous abortion bans.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Maddy McDaniel issued the following statement:
“David McCormick has been lying about his support for dangerous abortion bans ever since launching his campaign for the U.S. Senate, but his endorsements once again reveal the truth. Pennsylvanians won’t be fooled by McCormick’s lies – it’s clear he would be a vote for a national abortion ban in the U.S. Senate.”
McCormick has long record supporting an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest:
- When asked directly in a debate last year whether he believed there should be exceptions for abortion in the cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother, McCormick responded only “in the very rare instances there should be exceptions for the life of the mother.”
- Axios: “David McCormick…said during a debate in Harrisburg last month he’s fully against all scenarios involving abortion, apart from ‘in the very rare instances there should be exceptions for the life of the mother.’”
- Huffington Post: “McCormick has said that life begins at conception and that he does not support exceptions in abortion laws for rape or incest.”
- Huffington Post: “McCormick said in a May 2022 debate with Oz that he supports banning abortion with an exception only when the pregnant person’s life is in danger, and not in cases of rape or incest.”
- WESA: There was no “pushback from the McCormick campaign.”
- Before the Dobbs decision leaked, McCormick said he would be a “stalwart opponent of abortion.”
- McCormick repeatedly praised the leaked Supreme Court opinion draft overturning Roe as a “huge victory” and “huge step forward.”
- McCormick’s 2022 campaign website said he was “staunchly pro-life.”
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