U.S Senate candidate Eric Hovde weighs in on abortion, election laws
MADISON Wis. (CBS 58) -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde believes women who are early on in their pregnancy "should have a choice" when deciding to have an abortion while talking to reporters on Milwaukee's northside Thursday.
Hovde, a Republican businessman from Madison, also echoed his beliefs that there should be exceptions for rape and incest, a stance on abortion he took shortly before announcing his bid against Democratic incumbent Senator Tammy Baldwin in February.
"I think women early on in a pregnancy should have a right to make a choice, but I think there is a point where once a baby can be born healthy and alive, it's unconscionable," Hovde told reporters.
With abortion shaping up to be a key issue in the U.S. Senate race, I asked GOP candidate Eric Hovde his stance on it including his views on birth control and fertility treatments.
— Emilee Fannon (@Emilee_Fannon) April 4, 2024
It was quite the contrast from 2012 when ran and said he was "totally opposed" to abortion. pic.twitter.com/LZqzCMcV9S
Hovde declined to say when abortions should be banned in Wisconsin. The current law is 20 weeks. Instead, he threw his support behind a statewide referendum asking voters to decide the issue, a proposal that Assembly Republicans passed despite Gov. Tony Evers vowing to veto it.
It was a stark contrast to his previous statements in 2012 when he was "totally opposed to abortion" and wanted to “protect all human life from conception.” Those statements were made during his first U.S. Senate bid, a race he lost in four-way GOP primary that ultimately resulted with voters electing his now-opponent Sen. Baldwin.
Hovde also reiterated his support for access to fertility treatments, like IVF and birth control. It comes as several Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have openly backed IVF in wake of the Alabama Supreme court ruling frozen embryos used in the treatment are children.
"I want everyone who wants to have a child to have a child," Hovde said. "If a woman wants access to birth control -- I have no problem with that."
Jackie Rosa, a campaign spokeswoman for Baldwin, bashed Hovde's comments on abortion.
"Eric Hovde has made his position on abortion abundantly clear: he supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which led to millions of Wisconsin women living under a near-total abortion ban, without exceptions for incest and rape," Rosa said. "Tammy Baldwin is the only candidate in this race that Wisconsin women can always count on to defend our reproductive freedoms and restore abortion access nationwide.”
When asked about views, Hovde said his stance has "never changed" on exceptions for rape and incest.
Hovde, a multimillionaire who owns multiple companies, made the comments just days after receiving Trump's endorsement.
The Republican distanced himself from the former president by saying he doesn't believe the 2020 election was stolen, something Trump again falsely claimed during a rally in Green Bay Tuesday.
"Where there issues? Yes. But we got to move past that, and we got to get confidence in our election process," said Hovde.
When asked about the "issues," Hovde expressed concerns with the decision to ban election officials from entering nursing homes to help residents cast an absentee ballot during the pandemic and allowing clerks to accept ballots that had missing parts of a witness address.
In February, the bipartisan state Elections Commission voted 5-1 to comply with a court ruling that ordered clerks to accept absentee ballots that don't include information, like a voter's zip code.
He also praised the passage of two statewide referendums that were approved by voters this week that will prohibit local governments from accepting or applying for private grant money to help administer elections and restrict who can work on elections.
Prior to weighing in on abortion and election laws, Hovde hosted a roundtable with community leaders at a Pepper Pot, a Jamaican restaurant in Bronzeville.
The discussion consisted of affordable housing, health care, and education -- issues Hovde said he's "deeply concerned about."