Never Trumper and Utah independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin told MSNBC on Sunday he would vote against pro-life legislation if elected to the Senate.
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan asked McMullin why he flip-flopped his views on abortion, when in 2016, as a presidential candidate, he said he was staunchly pro-life and argued that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
McMullin said that he is “committed to the sanctity of life” but suggested that means the “life of women” and the “lives of the unborn.” He decried Republican efforts at the state level to enforce more pro-life measures as “extreme.”
He said that there should not be a “legal tug of war” between the pro-life and the pro-abortion crowds and that the tug of war between those two camps might end up in a “public health crisis.”
When pressed by Hasan, he said he opposed overturning the landmark Supreme Court ruling.
“I do not think that that is the way for the country to move forward on this issue,” McMullin said.
Evan McMullin, now trying to unseat Mike Lee, was staunchly anti-abortion in 2016. Yet he tells @mehdirhasan he now opposes overturning Roe v. Wade: “I do not think that that is the way for the country to move forward on this issue.” pic.twitter.com/52jQtuQ8Li
— The Mehdi Hasan Show (@MehdiHasanShow) May 9, 2022
Instead, McMullin called for “less judgment and more compassion,” and said American women should have more access to contraception, as he argued that would lead to fewer abortions.
McMullin said he would vote against legislation to limit abortions nationwide, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has suggested he would do if Republicans were to gain the Senate majority during the 2022 midterm elections. McMullin hopes to oust Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) during the midterm elections and has the backing of Utah Democrats.
“I would be a no vote against that,” McMullin said.
File/ Supporters of U.S. Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin cheer him on at an election night party on November 8, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (George Frey/Getty Images)
McMullin has claimed overturning Roe would lead to “extreme” pro-life laws across the country that might “target women.”
In contrast to McMullin, Lee on Sunday called the potential ruling to overturn Roe a “masterfully written” decision.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.