Herschel Walker paid for ex-girlfriend’s abortion, report says


ATLANTA — Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia and an outspoken opponent of abortion, paid for his then-girlfriend to have an abortion in 2009, according to a Monday report in The Daily Beast. Mr Walker called the claim a “brainless lie”.

The woman, who The Daily Beast said asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, said she and Mr Walker conceived the child while dating and had mutually agreed not to pursue the pregnancy. She said Mr Walker, who was unmarried at the time, reimbursed her for the cost of the procedure, the outlet reported.

As evidence, the woman provided a copy of a $700 check from Mr. Walker, a receipt from the abortion clinic and a “recovery” card from Mr. Walker, The Daily Beast reported. The outlet published a photo of the card with what it said was Mr Walker’s signature.

Mr. Walker quickly issued a statement on Twitter and threatened to file a libel suit against The Daily Beast on Tuesday morning. “I deny this in the strongest terms possible,” he said. “It’s disgusting, gutter politics.”

The development is the latest in a string of potentially damaging reports about Mr. Walker’s personal life since he began his campaign for the Senate in 2021. In June, The Daily Beast reported that Mr. Walker, who has criticized absent fathers in black households, had fathered a child out of wedlock. Later that week, the outlet reported on two other children he had yet to mention publicly or to his campaign aides.

Christian Walker, the son of Mr Walker who has not supported his father’s campaign or appeared publicly on his father’s behalf, weighed in on Monday evening, say on twitter that “all members” of Mr Walker’s family urged him not to run for office.

“I don’t care about someone who has a bad past and takes responsibility. But how DARE YOU LIE and act like you’re a “moral, Christian, upright man”? He continued. “You have lived a life of DESTROYING the lives of others.”

Mr. Walker responded with a single Tweeter: “I LOVE my son no matter what.”

In a Monday night interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Mr Walker denied the account presented in the Daily Beast article, saying he did not know the woman. Asked about the reported $700 payment for the abortion, he replied, “I send money to a lot of people.”

“I have never asked anyone to have an abortion, I have never paid for an abortion,” Mr Walker continued. He said of Democrats, “They want that seat. But right now, they energized me even more.

Mr Walker was also found to have exaggerated or distorted other parts of his life story. He claimed to have worked in law enforcement when he did not. He exaggerated the origins of a chicken business he built. After setting up a food distribution business, he claimed to have donated some of his company’s income to charity, but there is little evidence that the organizations received the funds.

Mr Walker has made his opposition to abortion a cornerstone of his campaign message, repeatedly saying he supports a ban on the procedure with no exceptions for rape or incest. He also endorsed legislation recently proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, which institutes a nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Mr Graham’s bill provides exceptions for rape, incest or pregnancies that threaten the health of the mother.

“There are no exceptions in my mind,” Mr. Walker told reporters in Macon, Georgia, in May, days before the state’s GOP Senate primary. “You never know what a child will become.”

Georgia’s Senate race is one of the most closely watched in the country. Most polls show the race between Mr Walker and his Democratic opponent, Senator Raphael Warnock, to be virtually even. A spokeswoman for Mr Warnock’s campaign declined to comment.