'I do support an exception to protect the life of the mother,' Mandel said Brown, Mandel tangle on abortion

Ohio Republican Josh Mandel and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown tangled over the issue of abortion in their final Senate debate Thursday.

The Republican state treasurer said he supports an exception to a ban on abortion only if a woman’s life is endangered.


In a survey for the anti-abortion group Right to Life that he filled out in January, Mandel checked “yes” next to the box asking whether the candidate supports “federal and state legislation to ban abortion-on-demand from fertilization to birth.” A separate option, which Mandel did not mark, was “Yes, with exceptions.”

While Democrats said that indicated a change in position, Mandel’s campaign provided POLITICO two February surveys following the debate that showed Mandel supported exceptions for the life of the mother. In surveys for Concerned Women for America and National Right to Life, Mandel noted he indicated abortion should be legal “to prevent the death of the mother.”

Republican candidates’ positions on abortion have come under greater scrutiny since Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s explosive comments on “legitimate rape” in August and Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s remark Tuesday night that pregnancy from rape is “something God intended to happen.”

“I do support an exception to protect the life of the mother,” Mandel said toward the end of an hourlong debate broadcast statewide on NBC affiliates. “This is an issue that I know is a very divisive issue. I know it’s an issue where people are very passionate on both sides.”

While Mandel advocated for focusing policy on areas of common ground like adoption and taxpayer funding of abortion, he also dubbed Brown “an extremist” three different times for supporting late-term abortions.

“Sherrod Brown has an extremist position and actually supports abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy. Sen. Brown, can you explain to the people at home tonight why you support abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy,” Mandel asked.

Brown replied, “I’ve never heard anybody say that before Josh, I’m not aware of that.”

The first-term senator then characterized Mandel as the candidate with “the most extreme position” for opposing abortions in cases of rape or incest, a charge that is true.

“There are tens of thousands of women in this country that get pregnant from rapes every year. May not be something people look like us want to acknowledge, but it happens,” Brown said. “That’s why in the end, I will always trust Ohio women to make their health care decisions, plain and simple.”

Mandel’s comments on the abortion issue first caught Democrats attention Wednesday while he was being questioned by POLITICO on Mourdock’s statement.

Asked if he believed in any exceptions to his anti-abortion position, Mandel said, “I think it’s important to protect the life of the mother.”

He was one of the few GOP Senate candidates not to denounce Mourdock for his controversial comments, first saying he was unaware of them and then on Thursday telling radio host Laura Ingraham that he accepted Mourdock’s apology. He was not specifically asked about Mourdock during the debate.

Brown and Mandel spent the bulk of the time sparring over the auto bailout, Medicare reform, and taxes and spending.

Mandel repeatedly attacked Brown as a creature of Washington, as the Republican avoided specific answers to pointed questions.

Mandel would not say how he would’ve voted on Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget and declined to say if there is any circumstance in which he’d vote to raise taxes.

Brown has consistently led Mandel in the polls, but the race has closed to single digits in the waning weeks of the campaign, which has attracted tens of millions of outside spending.

The incumbent, though, expressed a flash of confidence at one point, prefacing his answer with, “Not that your chances of going to the Senate are that high, Josh.”

CORRECTION: The headline and text of an earlier version of this story asserted that Mandel shifted his position on abortion, based on a January survey he completed. Other surveys provided by his campaign after publication, however, showed Mandel’s statements at the debate were consistent with his earlier position.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Hadas Gold @ 10/25/2012 10:46 PM Correction: The headline and text of an earlier version of this story asserted that Mandel shifted his position on abortion, based on a January survey he completed. Other surveys provided by his campaign after publication, however, showed Mandel’s statements at the debate were consistent with his earlier position.