Kari Lake, the Arizona Republican Senate candidate, calls abortion “the ultimate sin,” wants abortion drugs banned, and supports conservative-led states' reproductive rights restrictions. Lake was in Ohio in August to promote a ballot issue that would have made a constitutional amendment granting abortion rights harder to enact.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Lake sought to temper her viewpoint to reflect Republicans' difficult situation after the Supreme Court reversed the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.
Lake thinks Arizona will allow abortions up to 15–24 weeks. She termed Arizona's 15-week limit “a good law,” but she told NBC News that she opposes the state's territorial rule, an almost total abortion ban that is in court. I haven't changed," Lake said in November 2023 when asked about her support for the territorial restriction.
A state ballot measure is coming up later this year.
“It’s probably going to be the 15th week or whatever is in this ballot initiative,” Lake said Arizonans will decide. “If Arizonans vote on this, I trust them to get it right.”
She called the 15-week limit “something that Americans can get behind because it gives people options, gives women options, and makes sure that there are carveouts.”
“The vast majority of Americans and Arizonans hold the view that abortion should be legal and that late-term abortion should not be legal,” she said, “with exceptions for rape, incest and obviously the health of a mother.”
Lake, along with Republicans in other key states, opposes a federal abortion ban and in vitro fertilization regulations.
“I hope that the court will strike that down,” she added of an Alabama court order that shut down fertility clinics and forced Republicans to rush to mitigate political consequences.
Lake says “the states should be deciding,” and she won't say if she'll vote to safeguard IVF universally if elected.
“If one state bans abortion, another will have abortion, so women can get abortion,” she said.
Democrats, like Lake's 2022 governorship campaign, are making reproductive rights a key issue. This year, a high-stakes legal dispute over mifepristone will resurface.
Lake is attempting to convince Republicans that abortion discussions can proceed.
Lake said she wants to support Republicans' family policy rhetoric with life-changing legislation. She promised to work across the aisle to enact baby incentives, increased child tax credits, and paid family leave to benefit moms and pregnant women.
“What we need to do is really start supporting women and giving them true choices,” Lake added. “We must prioritize. We say we're pro-family, but we should act accordingly.”
She continued, “Congress has spent almost $200 billion in Ukraine and wanted to send another $75 billion recently.” Instead, we can provide American families baby bonuses, prenatal care, parental support, education, and child care.
She stated her initiatives will be funded by tax incentives and cutbacks.
“This is where I can actually help in the Senate, by pushing some really great legislation that would actually provide baby bonuses for families, extend and beef up child tax credits to provide more tax incentives, and tax cuts for moms and dads and babies,” Lake told NBC News
She advocated paid family leave so new parents may bond with their babies without worrying about returning to work. “I think we should incentivize this for companies and new families,” Lake said.
Lake also suggests “financial support, grant money for prenatal care and parenting resources and classes.” She said passing an agenda to help families economically is just a matter of priorities.
“We always bail out companies, but never families,” Lake said. We must assist families. I'll do it if Democrats do.