Second woman alleges Georgia Senate candidate paid for abortion

A second woman claims Herschel Walker, the Republican candidate in the Georgia Senate race, paid for her abortion.

The big picture: Walker has taken a strong anti-abortion stand in the hotly contested Senate race during this year’s midterm election cycle and has denied both allegations against him.

News Movement: The woman, who was identified by attorney Gloria Allred as “Jane Doe,” said at a news conference Wednesday that Walker “pressured” her into having an abortion after learning she was pregnant in April 1993.

• “I was devastated because I felt I had been forced to have an abortion.”
• The woman said she was motivated to come forward because she saw Walker deny another woman’s allegations that he paid for her to have an abortion.
• “Specifically, I saw him state that the woman’s allegations were not true because he never signed any cards with the letter ‘H,'” Doe said.
• “I knew that wasn’t true because he had often signed letters to me with an ‘H.’
• She said she preferred to remain anonymous for “fear of reprisals” against herself, her family and her livelihood.

details: Doe said she began an intimate relationship with Walker in the late 1980s in Dallas while he was playing football for the Cowboys.

• “After discussing the pregnancy with Herschel several times, he encouraged me to have an abortion and gave me the money for it,” Doe said.
• “I went to a clinic in Dallas, but I just couldn’t get through it. I left the clinic in tears. When I told Hershel what had happened, he was upset and said he would come back with me to the clinic the next day to have an abortion. He then drove me to the clinic the next day and waited for hours in the parking lot until I got out.”
• “He then took me to get meds and supplies as prescribed and then drove me home.”

Note: Doe, who said she is a registered independent candidate and voted for former President Trump in 2016 and 2020, said, “I do not believe Herschel is morally fit to be a United States senator.”

What is he saying: Walker rejected the latter charge, accusing Democrats of “doing and saying everything they can to win this seat.”

• “I’ve already told people it’s a lie, and I’m not going to be entertained, I’m continuing to carry a lie,” Walker said on the campaign trail Wednesday.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), who was in Georgia with Walker on Wednesday, also fired back. He compared the allegations to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, during which Christine Blazey Ford testified that he sexually assaulted her in the 1980s.
• “I’ve seen this movie before people,” the Republican lawmaker said.

The other side: After the first abortion allegation, the campaign of Walker’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Raphael Warnock, remained silent. But Warnock’s camp has increasingly pointed to Walker’s past as evidence why he is unfit to be a senator.

Catch up fast: The first allegation, by the mother of one of Walker’s children, included a receipt from an abortion clinic and a check signed by Walker. Walker told NBC News he gave a $700 check to a former partner in 2009, but denied allegations the money was used to pay for an abortion.

• After the first report, Walker’s son Christian accused his father of lying about his past in multiple social media posts.
• A number of prominent Republicans, including Trump, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee doubled down on their support for Walker after the first indictment.

Editor’s note: This story and headline have been updated with additional details and to reflect that Doe claims Walker paid for her abortion.