Ben Carson is making waves for saying he’d love to see Roe v. Wade overturned—thus making abortion illegal.
But new reports from Carson’s political past are raising questions as to whether or not his pro-life stance is sincere.
Back in 1992, he appeared in a pro-life ad, for a group called “Vote Know” that was leading the fight against Maryland’s “Question 6” (which would throw out some key abortion-preventing law.)
But, facing criticism, he quickly rebuked the ad—saying he was misled by the people who filmed it, and that he didn’t realize it would be a political ad.
Even more curiously, he made his statements at a press conference with the group “Maryland for Choice”—which, like it sounds, was a driving force in trying to make abortion easier. Carson even stood at their podium, with their branding surrounding him, as he told the state of Maryland that he regretted appearing in the pro-life ad.
Federica Mathewes-Green, the former Vice President of Vote Know at the time, wrote that she was shocked by Carson’s rebuke—and how he chose to team up with their pro-choice opponents to criticize the ad.
“It was not just that he had second thoughts about the ad, but that he stood at Maryland for Choice’s podium to say so,” she explained. “We were bewildered and greatly saddened. And of course, ‘Even Dr. Carson says you lied’ became the inaccurate epithet thrown at us till the end of the campaign.”
Question 6 ultimately passed—meaning the pro-choice rules went into effect—and Carson’s rebuke was, apparently, not an insignificant part of that.
While Carson has gone on to be an advocate for pro-life values, the question remains: does he stand with his current comments or with his comments at the Maryland for Choice podium?