Dave McCormick on Reproductive Rights

Dave McCormick on Abortion

McCormick Opposed Abortion

McCormick Was A Stalwart Opponent Of Abortion

McCormick Pledged To Be A Stalwart Opponent Of Abortion. According to PennLive, “McCormick - like most of his primary opponents - has curated a policy platform that’s very close to what he believes national policy would be had former President Donald J. Trump been re-elected. He would, he said, drive for U.S. energy dominance, espousing policies that would, at least for the near-term future, emphasize fossil fuel production over climate change transition; make permanent the Trump tax cuts; work to change entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare - not for people who have already paid in - but for the generations to come. He also pledged to be a strong defender of the right to bear arms; and be a stalwart opponent of abortion.” [PennLive, 3/12/22]

McCormick’s Issues Page Claimed He Was “Staunchly Pro-Life And Believes That Life Begins At Conception.” According to Dave McCormick for Senate, “Supporting Life Dave is staunchly pro-life and believes that life begins at conception. Dave has attended the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C. and will continue to advocate for the rights of the unborn.” [Dave McCormick for Senate via WayBack Machine, March 2023]

[AUDIO] McCormick: “I Believe Life Begins At Conception Through Natural Death. I Believe And Support Court Rulings And Legislation That Makes Abortion Less Prevalent In Our Country And Ultimately Moves Us In A Direction Where There Isn’t Abortion.” “Well, first, I am- I am pro-life. I believe life begins at conception through natural death. I believe and support court rulings and legislation that makes abortion less prevalent in our country and ultimately moves us in a direction where there isn’t abortion. And- and probably most important, I want to be a leader and someone who supports our development as a society, which has a culture of life, and- and I'm seeing good signs there, frankly. I was at the March for Life in Washington, I don’t know, six weeks or so ago. And one of the things that struck me that was that the young people, really leading the charge and then I and then I went to Philadelphia a couple of weeks later for the- for the Philadelphia March for Life. It was the same thing. So we need to put policies in place that help women make the- the- the appropriate decision to protect life. We need to give them lots of options with adoption and all of that. And we need to be really pushing in the direction of court rulings and legislation that protects life.” [Breitbart News Saturday, 4/23/22]

[AUDIO] McCormick Touted Rick Santorum’s Endorsement Due To His “Conservative Views On Questions Of Abortion And Life.” “Well, I should have said that, because I was so honored by it. Rick Santorum and has endorsed me, been a friend for years. And- and he endorsed me because he thinks I'm the right man for the job. And I've got the right conservative views, both my views on policy, but also my my social conservative views on questions of abortion and life and so forth. So he’s- he’s- he's supported me. We've done a rally together recently, and he's been a great friend. And I agree with you 100 percent. He was ahead of his time. But we've talked about that. That was part of his appeal, where he really understood working America and he understood that those people in Pennsylvania, who had been forgotten.” [Mark Levin Show, 5/11/22]

McCormick Opposed Exceptions For Rape And Incest

McCormick Adopted A Stance For An “Almost-Blanket Ban On Abortion” Except For Life Of The Mother

In 2022 GOP Primary Debate, McCormick Opposed Exceptions For Rape And Incest

McCormick Adopted A Stance For An “Almost-Blanket Ban On Abortion Except ‘In The Very Rare Instances There Should Be Exceptions For The Life Of The Mother.’” According to Time, “With a surprisingly effective parry, another candidate used the same debate to prosecute Oz’s earlier stance on abortion rights, betting that the prior comments may prove disqualifying with conservative voters. Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick cast Oz as an out-of-touch figure who hides behind Trump’s endorsement to excuse his inconsistency. ‘It’s another example of you being phony in terms of the positions you’re putting forward,’ said McCormick, who was the undersecretary of the Treasury Department during George W. Bush’s administration. McCormick, too, has adopted a stance for an almost-blanket ban on abortion except ‘in the very rare instances there should be exceptions for the life of the mother.’ (He and his allies are outspending Oz by a 2-to-1 margin. Barnette, who has momentum on her side, is being outspent 358-to-1.)” [Time, 5/10/22]

McCormick Said He Was Fully Against All Scenarios Involving Abortion, Apart From “In The Very Rare Instances There Should Be Exceptions For The Life Of The Mother.” According to Axios, “David McCormick — who's facing a heated primary with his Trump-backed opponent, Mehmet Oz — 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.’” [Axios, 5/8/22]

McCormick Said That He Does Not Support Exceptions In Abortion Laws For Rape Or Incest. According to HuffPost, “In Pennsylvania, hedge fund executive Dave McCormick is reportedly mulling a comeback after losing the 2022 primary to celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz by less than 1,000 votes. McCormick, the former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, has been touted as a moderate, business-friendly Republican — the kind of recruit favored by the NRSC because he can self-fund an expensive campaign to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. His views on abortion may repel the same suburban voters who, in theory, might be drawn to his business experience: McCormick has said that life begins at conception and that he does not support exceptions in abortion laws for rape or incest, stances out of step with a state that allows abortion up to 23 weeks of pregnancy.” [HuffPost, 6/21/23]

McCormick Campaign Did Not Push Back When Media Outlets Reported On His Opposition To Rape And Incest Exceptions

McCormick Campaign Did Not Push Back When Media Outlets Reported On His Opposition To Rape And Incest Exceptions. According to WESA, “During a 2022 debate with other Republican hopefuls, when McCormick was asked, ‘Should there be exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of a mother,’ he specified only one case in which he supported abortion: ‘in the very rare instances there should be exceptions for life of the mother.’ Some media outlets reported that statement to mean there were no other scenarios in which McCormick supported the procedure — without apparent pushback from the McCormick campaign, which at the time was challenging eventual primary winner Dr. Mehmet Oz from the right.” [WESA, 9/20/23]

McCormick Praised The Overturning Of Roe v. Wade

[VIDEO] McCormick Said Overturning Roe Would Be A “Great Victory” Because It Would Put “Decisions Back In The States And In The Hands Of Voters.” “I saw those reports, and really a tragedy and disgraceful that their safety would be at risk. If this leaked memo becomes the court’s decision, that would be a great victory for the protection of innocent life. I’m a pro-life candidate, and that would put the decisions back in the states and in the hands of the voters, where they belong. But this is, again, an area where Pennsylvanians can see right in front of them the contrast between myself and Mehmet Oz. Mehmet has said he’s not a social conservative, he’s actually accused the pro-life movement of picking fights, and he’s really adopted the language of the left. Here we see in real-time that the left is becoming extreme on this issue, and really creating great discord in our country as the Supreme Court works through what’s really an important landmark decision.” [Fox Business Network: Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 5/9/22]

[VIDEO] David McCormick On SCOTUS Decision To Overturn Roe: “This Would Be A Huge Step Forward And A Huge Victory For The Protection Of Life.” Well, first, as you were just saying, what an earth-shattering breach of trust that is just further evidence of an assault on our institution. So it’s a really scary and sad day that we would see this happen in our Supreme Court. And second, if in fact the decision of the court turns out to be what was in this brief, this would be a huge step forward and a huge victory for the protection of life, which is certainly where the conservative and Republican party is in Pennsylvania, and a number of Democrats… I’m someone who’s pro-life, has been pro-life, and this is something where my primary competitor, Mehmet Oz, three years ago to this month had spoken out on a Breakfast Club interview about his concerns about this very scenario. If Roe v. Wade was overturned, that the states would put in more restrictive policies regarding abortion, more pro-life policies. [Fox News Channel: The Ingraham Angle, 5/2/22]

[VIDEO] McCormick Said He Would “Embrace” And “Be Vert, Very Happy” About The Supreme Court Overturning Roe v. Wade. “Well, this leaked memo, if it becomes the court's decision, is a huge victory for the protection of innocent life. It's a huge step forward and it also pushes the decisions down to the state level and voters where they should be. So we'll see if it becomes a ruling. If it does, I would embrace it and I would be very, very happy about it. But I want to go back to Mehmet because I think that's not an adequate answer. If you go back to that Breakfast Club interview, which was three years ago this month, he talks about a whole different set of positions. The tax, the pro-life for picking fights he attacks states to put in pro-life legislation is disrupting business. And this is something that you have to deal with Mehmet, because you've got a track record that's completely opposite the positions you're saying now in the PA voters need to know. It's another example of you being phony in terms of the positions you're putting forward.” [Newsmax PA Republican Senate Primary Debate, 5/4/22]

[AUDIO] McCormick Said Overturning Roe Was A “Great Step Forward.” “On this question, if, in fact, the Supreme Court brief becomes the law of the land, I think it's a great step forward in protecting innocent life. I think it also puts that decision back where it belongs at the level of of the state and individual voters. And I'm in favor of legislation and decisions that pushes us much further along in terms of protecting innocent life. And so I think this is a great step forward. And I also think that we should be promoting a culture of life. And I think great strides have been made in our country on this. You know, I went to the March for Life, I don’t know- six weeks ago/seven weeks ago in Washington, lost track. And I called my wife on the way home and I said, ‘there's lots of observations from here. But the one that really stuck with me was this whole generation of young people that were leading the charge.’ And it just gave me such hope.” [Ben Ferguson Show, 5/15/22]

McCormick Tried To Scrub Anti-Abortion Interviews From The Internet

McCormick Removed Videos Of Interview Of Him Praising The Dobbs Decision From His YouTube Account. According to WESA, “When a draft of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the ruling that overturned Roe, was leaked last spring, Pennsylvania Republicans were locked in a bitter seven-way primary fight to become the nominee to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. McCormick told Fox News host Laura Ingraham two weeks before the primary that overturning Roe ‘would be a huge step forward and a huge victory for the protection of life.’ The 2022 McCormick campaign posted the interview on its YouTube account, where Democrats cited it as proof he was ‘committed to attacking reproductive freedoms if elected.’ But since then, that account has had all its videos removed (though an archived version of his remarks to Ingraham still exists). The interview also doesn’t appear on a campaign Facebook page, though the page does include other interviews with Ingraham he did during that campaign.” [WESA, 9/20/23]

McCormick Removed The Issues Page That Touted His Anti-Abortion Bona Fides From His Campaign Website. According to Insider, “As Dave McCormick mounts a second campaign for the GOP nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania, he has removed an old ‘Issues’ page from his website that touted his ‘staunchly pro-life’ bona fides. ‘Dave is staunchly pro-life and believes that life begins at conception,’ read the old ‘Issues’ pages, according to the Internet Archive. ‘Dave has attended the March for Life rally in Washington, DC and will continue to advocate for the rights of the unborn.’ McCormick, the former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, is mounting a second campaign with the backing of party leaders after losing the primary to Trump-backed candidate Mehmet Oz in 2022. He would face Democrat Sen. Bob Casey in the general election.” [Insider, 9/28/23]