UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (DC News Now) — Larry Hogan, the Republican nominee for Maryland’s open U.S. Senate seat, said Friday that he’s “pro-choice” on the contentious issue of abortion that is expected to be a central focus in his race against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks this fall.
“I’m not personally in favor of abortion, and I was raised as a Catholic, but I also have said for decades that I wasn’t going to make that choice for anyone else,” Hogan said to reporters on Friday at a campaign stop in Upper Marlboro.
Hogan has also stated that he would support codifying abortion rights into federal law and in the Maryland Constitution if elected — a stance that Democrats have heavily criticized, claiming it was disingenuous.
Hogan said that he always protected abortion rights while as governor. He won two elections against his Democratic opponents in blue-leaning Maryland.
He said he’s been talking with women all over the state about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and their concerns.
“No one should come between a woman and her doctor,” Hogan said. “That’s my position.”
Alsobrooks countered this, saying that Hogan isn’t truly pro-choice in his actions.
“I think he has a record that Marylanders will become aware of,” Alsobrooks told DC News Now in an interview on Wednesday, the day after she won the Democratic primary.
“They will know for sure that he is a person who is not pro-choice, that he vetoed important abortion care legislation that would have expanded that care across the state,” she continued.
Hogan said his “transformation” to being for abortion rights began around 2014.
“I said I was going to do everything I could to protect women’s rights and access to abortion,” Hogan said. “And I lived up to that commitment.”
Hogan said he expects more attacks on his abortion position but that Marylanders won’t buy it.
“You know, voters do trust me in Maryland,” he said.
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