Bernie Moreno Still Facing “Backlash,” “Drawing The Ire” Of Ohioans for “Flip Remark[s]” Mocking Women

COLUMBUS, OH – Bernie Moreno continues facing “backlash” as he is “drawing the ire” of Ohioans from both parties for his “flip” comments mocking Ohio women for wanting to make their own health care decisions.

In comments first reported by WCMH, Moreno said it was “a little crazy” for women to want the ability to make their own health care decisions. Moreno has said he is “100% pro-life with no exceptions” and “absolute pro-life, no exceptions” and would support a national abortion ban, overturning the will of Ohioans who voted overwhelmingly to enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution just last year.

Spectrum News: “Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno taking a hit from a member of his own party over recent comments he made about women of a certain age… One notable Republican taking issue with those remarks: former presidential candidate and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.”

WATCH MORE FROM WSYX HERE

WSYX: “Tonight, the furor continues over some video secretly recorded of Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. Moreno wondered why women over 50 would care about abortion.”

Darrel Rowland, WSYX: “As the remarks have caught national attention, ABC6 talked with a pair of GOP women who made Ohio political history.”

Former Ohio Attorney General Republican Betty Montgomery: “Just because I’m of a certain age doesn’t mean I don’t care about it… If I were to believe that, I shouldn’t care about whether or not we worry about prostate cancer for men. Or I shouldn’t worry about whether or not childhood cancer is taken care of.”

Former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Deborah Pryce: “Women over 50 have daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and friends. And women over 50 are thoughtful about what their vote means for the future of our country, not just what it means for themselves.”

Former Ohio Attorney General Republican Betty Montgomery: “Quite frankly, that flip remark, it can be really damaging I think.”

NBC News: Two years after the end of Roe, abortion is still tripping up Republicans in key races
Bridget Bowman, Adam Edelman and Henry J. Gomez – September 25, 2024

• “Bernie oof,” one Republican who works on Senate races texted after the Moreno story broke Monday.
• And former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley issued her blunt assessment on X, writing, “Are you trying to lose the election?”
• …Moreno’s latest remarks aren’t an isolated faux pas.
• During his primary last year, he falsely claimed that a ballot measure enshrining the right to abortion care in the state constitution (the measure passed last November) would let a rapist “force” a woman to get an abortion — helping Democrats make the case that he is particularly extreme on the issue.
• Democrats have seized on Moreno’s comments, with Brown’s campaign contrasting them with Ohioans’ support for a state constitutional amendment nearly protecting access to abortion, which easily passed last year.

• “Moreno clearly thinks he knows better than Ohioans and his comments are insulting to everyone who believes a woman’s healthcare decisions should be between her and her doctor,” Brown spokesperson Reeves Oyster said in a statement.

New York Times: Republican Candidates Keep Straying Into Dangerous Territory: Abortion
Jonathan Weisman – September 26, 2024

• This week, it was Bernie Moreno, the Republican running to unseat Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio, suggesting that abortion rights shouldn’t concern women over the age of 50 — “I don’t think that’s an issue for you,” he said on tape in Warren County, Ohio, over the weekend, as first reported by the NBC affiliate in Columbus.
• Mr. Brown shot back in a statement, “As a man over the age of 50, I care deeply about a woman’s right to make health care decisions for herself — for my daughters, my granddaughters, and all Ohio women, regardless of their age.”

Columbus Dispatch: Bernie Moreno says Founding Fathers would ‘murder you’ for backing abortion rights
Haley BeMiller – September 25, 2024

• Fast forward to now: Moreno is facing Sen. Sherrod Brown in one of the country’s most competitive and expensive Senate races that could decide which party is in power. The Nov. 5 election comes one year after 57% of Ohio voters chose to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
• Advocates pushed back against Moreno’s assertion that abortion isn’t health care and said he’s not interested in representing the needs of Ohioans.
• He told a Cincinnati radio host in 2022 that he was “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.” During his Senate primary campaign, he advocated for a 15-week national ban with “commonsense restrictions.”
• But Moreno has been caught with his foot in his mouth more than once. During a July campaign event, he blamed the passage of the abortion rights amendment in Ohio on poor turnout among evangelical voters. He also faced backlash after chiding suburban women who prioritize abortion rights at the ballot box, according to audio obtained by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau and first reported by NBC4 in Columbus.

Cleveland.com: Moreno women past 50 remark: Darcy cartoon

• At a Warren County town hall last Friday, U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno was caught on tape saying he thought it was a “little crazy” that suburban women over 50 even care about abortion rights.
• “You know, the left has a lot of single issue voters. Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’… Ok. It’s a little crazy, by the way, but – especially for women that are, like, past 50 – I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”

###