GOP Congressman Decides to Change Definition of ‘Pro-Choice’ to ‘Pro-Whatever Will Get Me Re-Elected’

Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.), who won his seat against Democrat Adam Gray by only 564 votes in 2022, has previously expressed support for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, which, of course, ended the federal right to abortion that same year. In March, he voted for a budget proposal that included a ban on medication abortion. Yet, on Sunday, just 50 days out from the election, Duarte told CNN that he and former President Trump are both “pro-choice.”

“I am pro-choice. I believe the president [Trump] is functionally pro-choice,” Duarte, who’s in a hotly contested rematch against Gray for California’s 13th, said. “He wants the states to make their policy themselves, he doesn’t want to federalize abortion law, and neither do I.” CNN pressed Duarte, pointing out that Trump “opposes abortion rights,” to which Duarte lied, “No he doesn’t. He says—states are moving towards abortion rights one-by-one. The Dobbs decision put it back in the states. I believe abortion belongs in the states.” The CNN reporter then clarifies, “So, you supported the Dobbs decision but you’re pro-choice?” Duarte answers, “I’m pro-choice.”

It’s an utterly head-spinning interview reflective of the GOP’s desperation in the face of their wildly unpopular abortion bans. All polling shows that voters are against forced pregnancy and birth, as well as the total upending of the medical system. Consequently, up and down the ballot, Republicans from Donald Trump and JD Vance to Ted Cruz and, apparently, Duarte, are trying to distance themselves from their own previously expressed positions—in this instance, by lying that they’re “pro-choice.” But, lest there be any confusion, Duarte has the endorsement of Californians For Life, an anti-abortion group against exceptions even for rape or incest.

Duarte’s laughable comments come just weeks after Trump posted on Truth Social that he would be “great for women and their reproductive rights” if elected—as if he wasn’t already president, appointed anti-abortion extremists to the Supreme Court and federal judiciary, and saw to abortion being banned in nearly half of all states. Since April, Trump has performatively come out against a national abortion ban and says he supports leaving the issue to the states—the current, desperate state of affairs that routinely results in patients being denied life-saving care. We know, of course, that if elected, there’s a good chance Trump will enact Project 2025, the far-right agenda that lays out how he can bypass Congress to impose a national ban.