Sen. Bob Casey and Dave McCormick offer sharp contrast on abortion rights
‘Our daughters and granddaughters should not grow up with fewer rights than their mothers,’ Casey said after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade, Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey released a powerful statement calling the ruling dangerous.
“Today’s decision upends almost a half-century of legal precedent and rips away a constitutional right that generations of women have known their entire lives,” he said at the time. “Our daughters and granddaughters should not grow up with fewer rights than their mothers.”
In contrast, Dave McCormick, the Republican former hedge fund CEO running against Casey for the Senate in 2024, once celebrated the idea of Roe being overturned.
“If this leaked memo becomes the court’s majority opinion, it would be a huge victory for the protection of innocent life and rightfully puts the issue of life back into the hands of the states,” McCormick said in May 2022.
The two candidates differ greatly on the issue of abortion.
In 2016 and 2017, Casey earned a 100% from NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Congressional Record on Choice scorecard. Casey earned a 100% score from Planned Parenthood for his voting record during the 2023-2024 congressional session.
Casey once referred to himself as a “pro-life Democrat,” but he has distanced himself from the term since Roe was overturned.
“It’s what kind of country you’re going to be: Are we going to be a country that bans abortion?” Casey said in 2023, according to the Washington Examiner. “That’s where I think Dobbs, really in so many ways, it was not just the overturning of a 49-year right, but it completely changed the conversation about the way forward, which is to kind of split people into two lanes — you are either going to support banning abortion or not.”
In June, Casey spoke at an online event hosted by a progressive women’s organization called Red Wine & Blue. He warned that electing both a Republican president and a Republican Senate majority could lead to nationwide bans on birth control and abortion medication. Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania up until 24 weeks of pregnancy.
“You could have blue-state impact whether it’s a blue-state ban that affects contraception or whether it’s a blue-state ban when it comes to abortion because of mifepristone,” Casey said, according to the Associated Press.
McCormick’s position on abortion has changed in recent years. When asked during a debate in April 2022 whether abortion should be allowed in cases of “rape, incest, or the life of the mother,” McCormick said, “I believe in the very rare instances there should be exceptions for the life of the mother.”
A now-deleted issues page from McCormick’s 2022 campaign website reads: “Dave is staunchly pro-life and believes that life begins at conception. Dave has attended the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C. and will continue to advocate for the rights of the unborn.”
Today, McCormick’s campaign website says the candidate is “opposed to a national abortion ban, and supports exceptions in the cases of rape, incest, and saving the life of the mother.”
“Despite his efforts to hide his abortion record, David McCormick is out of step with the majority of Pennsylvanians who believe abortion should be between patients and their doctors, not politicians,” Breana Ross, Pennsylvania state director for Planned Parenthood Votes, said in an April 24 statement. “McCormick is determined to move this country in the opposite direction.”
A CBS News poll of likely voters conducted Sept. 3-6 found Casey leading McCormick 48% to 41%.
