U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton pledges support for abortion rights amid Senate race

As Republican John Deaton campaigns on his commitment to abortion access, Senator Warren warns that his election could empower Republicans to impose restrictions.

By Hannah Goeke

Republican U.S. senator candidate John Deaton expressed his willingness to write abortion access into federal law at a press conference outside the state house in his running for senator. He argued that his opponent Democrat U.S. Senator Warren mischaracterized his position on reproductive rights.

“You couldn’t have a more fierce advocate for women’s rights,” Deaton said, proposing switching parties if a ban on abortion came to the senate floor.

Warren has argued Deaton’s election could have the opposite effect and give Republicans more opportunity to pursue limits on abortions. “If they get John Deaton elected, the consequence of that will be, in a 50-50 Senate, that the Republicans take control, and Republican control means, I don’t know — one, two, three Supreme Court nominees that come up next will have to be Republican-approved. It means that the Republican efforts in the House and the Senate to have a nationwide abortion ban will have new life,” Warren said in an interview on GBH News’s “Boston Public Radio” last month.

Deaton believes his single vote could be decisive in tipping the scale. “I personally guarantee that in a 50-50 Senate, I will single-handedly prevent a federal abortion ban from reaching the Senate floor,” Deaton said, “Senator Warren can’t do that. She’ll just be another partisan person from the other side who is dismissed in the conversation.”

Deaton has also said he would oppose efforts to remove the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, a procedural rule that requires a supermajority of 60 votes to pass most legislation. This has  made it harder for any party with a slim majority to push through controversial legislation.

The duo will meet in their first debate on October 15 at WBZ-TV studios in Boston. Warren is currently leading in the polls as she seeks a third term.