Not Surprised: Republican-Turned-Independent-Turned-Democrat-Turned Obama Supporter-Turned-Republican Again Kari Lake Flip-Flops on Abortion
Kari Lake, the former Arizona gubernatorial candidate (2022) and current candidate for the U.S. Senate (R-AZ), has been the topic of discussion in the wake of her recent comments after the Arizona Supreme Court upheld the state’s total abortion ban. Lake, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat-turned-Obama supporter-turned-Republican again has declared that abortion must have exceptions, a hard flip-flop from her 2022 pro-life stance.
Here’s what Lake said about abortion in 2022:
But in a recent video Lake posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, she pulled phrases right out of the Democrats’ talking points: “This is such a personal and private issue,” she said. “I chose life, but I’m not every woman,” she added. Wait. What? So now the pro-life position is that one cannot speak for every woman? Who’s going to speak for the babies, then? She went on to say, “I want to make sure every woman who finds herself pregnant has more choices so that she can make that choice that I made.” Again, what? She wants women to legally be able to choose to end the life of their babies so they don’t end the life of their babies? This makes no sense.
Lake went on to point out, among other things, that some women are “economically in a horrible situation” as the video shows a dejected black woman. Since when do true pro-life people believe that only babies of well-off parents get to live? Again, this is a far-left pro-abortion perspective. This is part of the reason Planned Parenthood purposely puts its clinics in black and brown communities, and this would have made racist Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s founder, ecstatic.
Despite her beliefs two years ago, the exceptions Lake says she “[agrees] with President Trump” on are “rape, incest, and the life of the mother.”
Here is a portion of her Twitter flip-flop video (full video at this link):
Rape and incest are horrible injustices that no one should endure. When such tragedies do occur, the compassionate response is to love the victims, to walk alongside them, to direct them to professional and spiritual help to get through the suffering. If the woman ends up pregnant as a result of such abuse, the right thing to do is to encourage her not to compound the horror by ending the pregnancy. The supportive thing to do is to encourage her that with help, she can do the hard thing of carrying her child. The decent thing to do if she feels she cannot keep the child is to encourage her to allow someone else to raise him or her via adoption. The wrong thing is to tell her it’s okay to punish the innocent baby while the perpetrator gets to live. Will it be difficult to carry her child after she has been unspeakably violated? I can only imagine how difficult, but God and others can help her do the hard thing. Statistics show abortion only multiplies grief. We also know that rape and incest account for a minuscule number of abortions, although the pro-abortionists would have us believe that it’s why most people get an abortion. It simply is not true.
Concerning the life of a mother, many healthcare providers have repeatedly said that it’s not what it appears, that in the case of health-related situations, the goal and the treatment can focus on saving both the mother and the baby. Sometimes, the effort to save the baby falls short, but that should always be the goal. Unfortunately, we know that the “life of the mother” is an expression that is used to mean various things: depression, poverty, too many other responsibilities such that it would be overwhelming to parent a child, and so on. It seems to me some find it easier to encourage abortion than to be there for the woman and her future child. This is not the kind of culture we want. Thank God there are many people and organizations providing that support.
Online comments from people committed to the sanctity of life reveal how disappointed they are with Lake’s comments, I assume because they believed she could be trusted, and many, I’m sure, had bought into the idea that she was a serious contender to become former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate. I’ve never been one of those people. Her political party track record reminds me of an uncomfortable roller coaster ride. That is not to say people cannot change. In fact, we have to believe that people change, or else why bother sharing a message we know is worthy of being embraced? Simply preaching to the choir isn’t ideal. So, yes, people do change. It’s just that some people—such as Lake—do a whole lot of changing a whole lot, which might indicate that they’re not truly changing at all. Conservatives right now need people who can be trusted. As 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin expressed well in her list of characteristics Trump should look for in a vice president, a person’s record is “telling.” As a portion of my article called “Sarah Palin Responds to Kimberly Guilfoyle's Question: 'What Should President Trump Be Looking for in a Choice' for Vice President?” says:
This aligns with her later point that a person’s record must be examined. Republicans do seem to gravitate toward those who have jumped on the bandwagon, eager to parade them as the latest party convert. While conceding that some may have suddenly “seen the light,” which, of course, is good, it’s vital to exercise good judgment and look hard at what their record reveals about them, Palin stated. A person’s record is “telling,” she added.
This isn’t a discussion about Lake becoming vice president, though. This is about who we can trust—and who repeatedly does a 180. Having said that, if Lake secures the nomination for Senate against her Republican challengers, I imagine she will be infinitely better than her Democrat challenger, Ruben Gallego. But the question remains: “Why is she speaking Democratese?” The answer is clear: she realizes, as do many Republicans, that Biden intends to campaign on the abortion issue—no doubt, because there’s nothing he’s done worth campaigning on and abortion plays on people’s emotions.
Michael Knowles weighed in on Lake’s video, calling her newfound abortion stance “a terrible, a terrible view—both morally and politically.” (Actually, is it really newfound? It’s hard to tell because she “changes” so often.) He added that whoever advised her to release this video “should be fired yesterday. This is a huge, totally unforced error,” he said.