Herschel Walker Reportedly Paid For Girlfriend’s Abortion, Pro-Life Candidate Responds With Vow to Sue For Defamation

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Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia, Herschel Walker, reportedly paid for an abortion for a woman he impregnated in 2009. The report from the Daily Beast is notable and newsworthy as Walker has run on a strict pro-life platform calling abortion murder and arguing abortion bans should make no exception for rape, incest, or the life of the mother.

The article by Roger Sollenberger did not identify the woman “out of privacy concerns,” but verified her claims with an abortion clinic receipt and a card from Walker.

Walker responded to the story by calling it “a flat-out lie” and added, “I [sic] planning to sue the Daily Beast for this defamatory lie. It will be filed tomorrow morning.” The Beast’s politics editor Matt Fuller replied, “I can tell you we stand behind every word and feel very solid about the story.”

I can tell you we stand behind every word and feel very solid about the story.https://t.co/ryvGywheAX https://t.co/t8kZaFs1Rc

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) October 3, 2022

“The woman said she had the procedure and that Walker reimbursed her for it. She supported these claims with a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a ‘get well’ card from Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 personal check from Walker,” wrote Sollenberger.

Hershel Walker's "Rest…Relax…Recover" get well card to his girlfriend after paying for her abortion, a medical procedure he now says that no other women should have access to. https://t.co/RvmL47gEnd pic.twitter.com/Qzhms7z2VO

— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) October 3, 2022

The woman said Walker was not married at the time the two were dating, but he told her “it would be more convenient to terminate the pregnancy, saying it was ‘not the right time’ for him to have a child,” according to the Beast, which added:

The woman said there was a $125 difference because she “ball-parked” the cost of an abortion after Googling the procedure and added on expenses such as travel and recovery costs.

Additionally, The Daily Beast independently corroborated details of the woman’s claims with a close friend she told at the time and who, according to the woman and the friend, took care of her in the days after the procedure.

Reactions to the story were swift and harsh as Walker’s bid to defeat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) remains a close race and a potentially pivotal one in depending the majority in the U.S. Senate. Abortion has become a key issue in many races after the Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion rights over the summer by overturning Roe v. Wade.

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