‘Gray area’ of abortion muddles GOP races

RENO, Nev. — Last month, when the wife of a Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Nevada talked candidly about the abortion she had before the two met — and the long journey of regret and healing that followed — many Republicans welcomed it as a more compassionate approach to an issue that has hurt GOP candidates at the ballot box.

But with Democrats nationally eying abortion rights as key to their prospects in the November election, from the presidency all the way down the ballot, Sam Brown’s evolving tone on abortion, particularly in choosing to publicly revisit his wife Amy’s story and oppose a national abortion ban, hints at just how complicated the fight over abortion rights could become for GOP candidates this fall.

In Nevada, the Browns’ story could be a factor in a competitive June 11 primary for a seat that Republicans view as a pivotal pickup opportunity. It also shows how abortion could be decisive in determining which party controls the U.S. Senate, where Democrats now hold a 51-49 majority but have many more seats on the line this year.

Some Nevada Republicans say the story demonstrates Brown’s deeper understanding of the complexities of reproductive health care in a state where voters guaranteed the right to abortion through a referendum. They also hope it illuminates a gray area that many Republican women feel extends beyond “yes” or “no” answers on abortion rights.

“I really resent people immediately putting all Republicans in one big basket,” said Pauline Ng Lee, president of the Nevada Republican Club.

Brown, sitting beside his wife, Amy, as she told her story to NBC News, used the moment to lay out his position that questions about abortion are best left to the states. If elected to the Senate, he said, he would oppose a federal abortion ban while supporting Nevada’s current law that protects the right to an abortion up to 24 weeks — roughly the standard nationally when Roe v. Wade was in effect.

But Brown, now locked in a crowded contest in Nevada’s GOP Senate primary in June, never said how he reconciles the tension between the story that helped inspire his policy stance and its implications today. When left to the states, women in Texas facing the same circumstances today would not have the options his wife had there in 2008.

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