Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz said abortion is “murder” at any stage of pregnancy in newly surfaced audio recorded in May, leading to a swipe from his Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
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Oz’s position on abortion has come under scrutiny. He has described himself as “pro-life” during his campaign, with exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. But in a 2019 interview, Oz described himself as “really worried” the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, which it did this year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In resurfaced comments reported Wednesday by the Daily Beast, Oz was asked by an attendee at a tele-town hall just days before the Republican primary to reconcile his past comments with his campaign position and explain why someone who is anti-abortion should vote for him.
Oz said he had been critical of so-called “heartbeat” bills banning abortion at six weeks’ gestation, arguing those laws may be invalidated because “as a doctor, a heart starts beating at around nine weeks.”
“If life starts at conception,” Oz said, “why do you care what age the heart starts beating at? It’s, you know, it’s still murder, if you were to terminate a child, whether their heart’s beating or not.”
But the Daily Beast reported that the context of the 2019 interview was Oz expressing “politically pro-choice” viewpoints.
Fetterman has sought to paint Oz’s stated position as extreme and is campaigning on an abortion rights platform.
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Joe Calvello, Fetterman’s campaign spokesman, said in a statement that Oz “knows his abortion position isn’t popular. That’s why you need a hot mic in order to hear it.”
