Ohio GOP Senate Candidate Calls Women ‘Crazy’ for Caring About Abortion

If I were a Republican running in a state where an abortion rights ballot measure triumphed over staggeringly aggressive voter suppression efforts, I’d be careful how I spoke about the issue. However, Bernie Moreno, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Ohio, seems to be going a different route.

At a town hall last week, the Republican businessman running to oust incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown called women voters who care about abortion rights “a little crazy” in a series of head-spinning remarks that his own team is now trying to write off as “a tongue-in-cheek joke.” WCMH, the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, first reported the comments on Monday night.

“You know, the left has a lot of single issue voters. Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else,’” Moreno said. “It’s a little crazy by the way, but—especially for women that are like past 50—I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”

First, abortion isn’t a “single issue”: We’re watching abortion bans upend the entire health system in real time, push people deeper into poverty, and bankrupt individuals who have to travel out-of-state for the procedure. Second, even if forced pregnancy and birth were a single issue, it would be pretty fair to be a “single issue voter” for that. And third, just a little campaign advice: You should probably avoid using the word “crazy” to describe women voters who will likely decide the outcome of your race.

I’ve watched this video like 10 times tonight, and I still can’t believe someone could be so callous and ignorant

Bernie Moreno cannot become Ohio’s US senator. Please vote for @SherrodBrown pic.twitter.com/gRDNwecr3R

— Rachel Coyle (@RachelCoyleOhio) September 24, 2024

As for Moreno’s little “joke” about women past 50 needlessly caring about abortion rights, the ageist, stupid line is more of what we’ve been seeing from the right, which has spent the last couple months insisting Kamala Harris and other politicians who don’t have biological children lack stakes in the future. 

Reagan McCarthy, a spokesperson for Moreno campaign, told NBC4 on Monday that Moreno was “clearly making a tongue-in-cheek joke about how Sherrod Brown and members of the left-wing media like to pretend that the only issue that matters to women voters is abortion.” Except the thing is… jokes are supposed to be funny! In a statement on Tuesday, Brown said, “As a man over the age of 50, I care deeply about a woman’s right to make health care decisions for herself—for my daughters, my granddaughters, and all Ohio women, regardless of their age. Despite the majority of Ohioans agreeing, Moreno has made it clear he would overturn the will of Ohioans by passing a national abortion ban.”

This isn’t even Moreno’s first time making horrifically stupid comments about abortion. In February, he suggested with a straight face that abortion rights aren’t necessary because women like his daughter just need help carrying heavy strollers. And earlier this month, he claimed outright that the abortion rights ballot measure that won in Ohio last year was only victorious thanks to cheating.

Moreno’s latest comments come as Republicans are scrambling to minimize the role of abortion rights this election cycle and are in damage control mode to win over suburban women voters, who some pollsters believe could decide key swing states. In August, Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance (R-Ohio, by the way) told Fox News, “I think most suburban women care about the normal things that most Americans care about, right? They care about inflation, they care about the price of groceries, they care about public safety in the streets where their kids play.” 

At the same time Moreno’s comments began circulating online on Monday night, Trump addressed women voters directly at a Pennsylvania rally: “I am your protector. I want to be your protector … you will no longer be abandoned, lonely, or scared. You will no longer be in danger … you will no longer be thinking about abortion.” Absurd, and creepy—very on brand for the Donald.

Ironically, the more these freaks keep saying that I, a woman, should be thinking about abortion less (or that I’m actually not thinking about it at all), the more I find myself thinking about it!