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| Photo Credit: AP. |
ATLANTA (AP) — A woman who said Herschel Walker paid for her 2009 abortion is the mother of one of his children, according to a new report Wednesday, undercutting the Georgia Republican Senate candidate’s claims that he didn’t know who she was.
The Daily
Beast, which first reported Monday on the abortion, said it had agreed not to
reveal details of the woman’s identity to protect her privacy. But Walker, who
has expressed support for a national abortion ban without exceptions,
vehemently denied the story, calling the abortion allegation a “flat-out lie,”
threatening a lawsuit against the outlet he has yet to file and saying he had no
idea who the woman might be.
So on
Wednesday night, The Daily Beast revealed that the woman — who was not named —
was so well known to Walker that, according to her, they conceived another
child years after the abortion. She decided to continue on with the later
pregnancy, though she noted that Walker, as he had during the earlier
pregnancy, expressed that it wasn’t a convenient time for him, the outlet
reported.
The Daily
Beast said the Walker campaign declined to comment on Wednesday’s story. Walker
is scheduled to make a public appearance Thursday morning in Wadley, Georgia,
as part of his Unite Georgia Bus Stop tour across the state.
The latest
reporting ensures that abortion will continue to be a central issue in the
Georgia race, one of the most competitive Senate contests in the country.
Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock are locked in a tight contest that
is key to the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
It adds to a
series of stories about the football legend’s past that have shaken Walker’s
campaign. Walker has been accused of repeatedly threatening his ex-wife’s life,
exaggerating claims of financial success and overstating his role in a
for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service
members while defrauding the government.
Earlier this
year, after a story by The Daily Beast, Walker acknowledged the existence of
three children he had not previously talked about publicly.
The woman
told The Daily Beast for Wednesday’s story that Walker’s denial of the abortion
was somewhat surprising to her.
“Sure, I was stunned, but I guess it also
doesn’t shock me, that maybe there are just so many of us that he truly doesn’t
remember,” the woman said. “But then again, if he really forgot about it, that
says something, too.”
In The Daily
Beast report published late Monday, the news outlet said it reviewed a receipt
showing her payment for the procedure, along with a get-well card from Walker
and her bank deposit records showing the image of a $700 personal check from
Walker dated five days after the abortion receipt.
During the
Republican Senate primary, Walker openly backed a national ban on abortions
with no exceptions for cases involving rape, incest or a woman’s health being
at risk — particularly notable at a time when the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme
Court precedent had been overturned and Democrats in Congress had been
discussing codifying abortion rights into federal law.
“I’m for life,” Walker has said repeatedly as
he campaigns. When asked about whether he’d allow for any exceptions, he has
said there are “no excuses” for the procedure.
As the
Republican nominee, Walker has sometimes sidestepped questions about his
earlier support for a national abortion ban, a tacit nod to the fact that most
voters, including many Republicans, want at least some legal access to
abortion.