A Republican candidate from Oregon also lies about paying for an abortion

A woman says so Oregon Republican congressional candidate Mike Erickson paid them abortion in 2001. However, the multimillionaire businessman refuses to admit it, saying only that he gave her $300 and drove her to a “doctor’s office” in Portland, Oregon. He claims he had no idea what the doctor’s appointment was.

History broke in first 2008 during a previous failed campaign by Erickson, which has been running on an anti-abortion platform for years. Now the shipping director claims that he was not close to the woman at the center of the story and never asked her for an abortion.

Last month, the Oregonians editors met with Erickson and his opponent, Democratic Rep. Andrea Salinas, to decide who to endorse for the state’s newly created 6th congressional district. During the interview, editors questioned him about paying for the abortion, as well as his previous drunk driving charges.

“I dropped her off at a medical clinic at the Lloyd Center and she didn’t say she was going to have an abortion,” Erickson repliedi.e. “I helped her because the girl I was dating — you said girlfriend — this girl I was dating, and she was living with her boyfriend. We have covered all of this in the past. They had a child together. I think they broke up or something and wanted some help. I helped this person. Period. I’m sorry for what happened to her in the situation on TV and in the press. But what my opponents are showing on TV is not what you are showing the Oregonians, reports. You put in there, you interviewed her: ‘Mike never asked me or encouraged me.'”

In 2008, the newspaper ran a front-page story about the woman’s experiences. The woman, known only as Tawnya, said she met Erickson at an Oktoberfest in September 2000. At the time, she was a single mom with a 3-year-old earning $13.77 an hour. Erickson introduced himself by handing her his card with his title “President” of a shipping consulting firm.

she says she dated for a few monthsalthough Erickson emphasized in the September 2022 interview that this is the case Not a couple. He only helped a “girl I dated”.

Tawnya – then 26 to Erickson’s 37 – said in the 2008 interview that she was sobbing so hard when she went to the clinic that “I couldn’t speak.” She recalled that Erickson “looked like he cared.”

“I asked him, ‘Are you sure you don’t want a baby?'” she said. “He shook his head. I opened the door, got out bawling, crossed the street and went to the clinic.”

Erickson, 45, said he had been dating Tawnya “for a couple of months.” He told The Oregonian he doesn’t remember many details of their relationship, including where they met or when they started dating. He said she didn’t show any emotion during the car ride.

“Did I pay for an abortion? Absolutely not,” Erickson said.

“She had some financial problems,” he said. “She asked for some money to go to a doctor’s appointment – not knowing what that was – and whatever happened, happened, I think. I didn’t even know she had an abortion.”

Jezebel sent a list of questions to Erickson’s campaign Monday night and The campaign has not responded. Jezebel also turned to the woman but don’t name them as she is not a public figure.

Erickson has said Oregon’s abortion law, one of the strictest in the nation, should do so “to be looked at” for possible changes – although he said so Oregonians that he is a “defender of the rights of states”. During this campaign, Erickson submitted responses to a voter guide compiled by the company Action of the American Family Associationa group that wants America to have its “biblical foundations.”

Erickson’s own alleged abortion Experience has remained from the national news, despite the tightness of the race. The Cook Political Report only rated the new district as “lean Democrat”. National Journal Hotline opinion poll found a slight advantage for Republicans. (A data analysis estimated that President Biden promoted voters in the range of 13 points, the congressional district would have passed during the 2020 campaign.)

Decades of history show the ruling party losing seats in the House midterm elections. However, there has never been an election like this. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. calf In June, voters indicated that abortion rights are the most important factor motivate them to vote in November.