TOM KEAN JR. COMES OUT IN SUPPORT OF NATIONAL ABORTION BAN

(Basking Ridge, NJ) Tom Kean Jr. has finally said out loud what he previously kept hidden on the MAGA version of his website, endorsing an abortion ban that would overturn New Jersey’s protections on a woman’s right to choose. This week, Kean Jr. submitted the following statement to Gothamist:

“Up to about 20 weeks, a person, a woman, can … have an abortion for any reason,” Kean said. “Post that time, those exceptions would include rape, incest, life, health of the mother or the baby.”

This position follows the framework of the national abortion ban proposed by Republicans in the U.S. Senate, which GOP leaders have promised to pass if they retake control of Congress, and which would repeal current New Jersey law.

The statement came after a chaotic moment during Kean Jr.’s first public appearance of the campaign, at the Jewish Federation Forum on Sunday, when he offered an incoherent account of where he stood on the issue, and the audience called him out for it.

Tom Kean Jr.’s support for a 20 week abortion ban is the opposite of pro-choice, and his continued use of that term is a dishonest attempt to redefine its meaning. To be pro-choice is to believe that however complicated the issue of abortion may be, women should make the decision with their families and their doctors, not the government. Tom Kean Jr. is no more “pro-choice” than Lindsey Graham or Kevin McCarthy, who have proposed bans on abortion at similar points in a woman’s pregnancy.

“I will defend New Jersey’s laws that guarantee a woman’s right to choose, period.” said Malinowski. “Tom Kean Jr. has made clear that he wants to repeal them. Voters will decide in November.”