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‘He told me black lives matter’: Walker blasts Warnock, a pastor, over support for abortion

October 15, 2022 | | Print Article

During a debate Friday night, Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker called out incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock over his support of abortion.

The back-and-forth exchange began with a moderator asking Warnock, “Do you believe there should be any limitations on abortion set by the government?”

Watch the full exchange below:

“I think that the women of this country and the women of this state woke up one summer morning, and a court protection that they’ve known for 50 years was taken from them by an extremist Supreme Court. And I stand where I’ve said I stand in the past — that a patient’s room is too narrow and small and cramped a space for a woman her doctor and the United States government,” the Democrat senator replied.

“We are witnessing right now what happens when politicians — most of them men — pile into patients rooms. You get what you’re seeing right now, and the women of Georgia deserve a senator who will stand with them. I trust women more than I trust politicians,” he added.

Walker then cut in to quickly respond.

“I heard he was a neat talker, but did he not mention that there was a baby in that room as well? And also, did he not mention that he asked him, the taxpayer, to pay for it? So he’s bringing the government back into the room,” he said.

Walker added that he’s never heard a pastor — Warnock is technically a pastor — speak so passionately in favor of abortion.

Given a chance to respond, Warnock claimed he’s a pastor with a “profound reverence for life,” never mind his support for abortion up to birth.

“I am a pastor. I’m a man of faith. And I have a profound reverence for life and a deep respect for choice. And because I have such a profound reverence for life, it’s one of the reasons why I’ve stood up to address this issue of maternal mortality in our country. We lead all of the western nations on that front, and black women are three to four times more likely to die even when they have the insurance and the income,” he said.

“Now that’s something government could actually do something about. And I joined with Marco Rubio of Florida to pass a bill to address maternal mortality. The women of Georgia have a clear choice as we’re watching women die. Do you want a senator who wants to control your life or do you want a senator who wants to save your life? I want to save your life,” the Democrat lawmaker added.

Walker then cut in to slam Warnock over his claim of being a pro-life pastor.

“He told me black lives matter. And if you think about it, senator, in Atlanta Georgia, there is more black babies that’s aborted than anything. If black lives matter, why are you not protecting those babies? Instead of aborting those babies. Why are you not baptizing those babies?” he said.

Warnock replied by accusing Walker of being extreme based on statements he’s made in the past saying he believes there should be no exceptions when it comes to abortion, including in cases involving rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

Walker pushed back by drawing attention to Georgia’s “heartbeat” bill that he voted for earlier this year. The bill bans abortions past six weeks of pregnancy but does contain exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.

The aspiring Republican senator’s take-down of Warnock, which has been receiving rave reviews from conservative pundits, comes only days after he was “exposed” by a litany of media hit pieces.

Published a week earlier, the hit pieces detailed how Walker had allegedly first paid for a woman’s abortion in 2009 and then allegedly asked her to get another abortion two years later.

Even though Walker has for his part denied these accusations, they nevertheless triggered an outpouring of condemnation from anti-Trump Republicans like Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who wrote a whole op-ed for CNN bashing Walker.

He argued that because of this scandal, among others, the focus this election cycle is on Walker instead of being on Warnock.

“Our Senate race should be a referendum on Warnock’s blind rubber-stamping of Biden’s agenda. In an evenly divided upper chamber, Warnock could have stopped every piece of flawed legislation that passed along party line votes, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act and the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act, both often cited by conservatives as some of the culprits for inflation rates at four-decade highs,” Duncan wrote.

“Yet instead of Warnock’s voting record, the attention has focused on the Republican challenger, a trend that will only accelerate after recent events,” he added.

Yet judging by Walker’s performance Friday, in addition to polls showing him catching up to Warnock, the trend may be changing …

Vivek Saxena
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