ARIZONA, USA — Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters has faced an onslaught of ads attacking his views on abortion.
Most of the ads use Masters' own words to claim he wants a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions.
Masters, to 12News and on his Twitter account, clarified that he supports a later term (3rd trimester) abortion ban.
NBC News first reported the Masters' campaign changed their website section, removing the phrase where Masters said he was "100 percent pro-life."
However, Masters said that does not represent a change in his views.
“I didn’t remove my stance. Go look at my website, go look at my website. It’s the most detailed, most pro-life agenda of any senate candidate running nationwide. I'm calling for a constitutional amendment or at least a federal law." Masters said.
Masters' website now reads that he supports a constitutional amendment that bans late-term abortion, along with other policy initiatives. It also attempts to paint Mark Kelly as a radical for his support of the Women's Health Protection Act.
Masters said despite claims to the contrary, his views have not changed since the primary.
“Tens of thousands of people saw me speak in the primary. I always said Roe v Wade should be overturned. The issue should be turned over to the states where it belongs," Masters said. "But at a certain point, the federal government needs to step in. That at a certain point (they should step in), I think at a minimum, it should be the 3rd trimester.”
Throughout the primary process, Masters advocated for a federal personhood law, which would effectively ban abortions nationwide. However, it was not until after the primary that Masters made it clear to 12News that the version of the law he supports would start in the third trimester.
"I know what I believe, but I also believe in getting done what we can get done. It’s off the table to say the federal government is going to ban abortion from day one. Do you know what we can do? Can we ban 3rd-trimester abortion? Can we ban partial-birth abortion? Let’s start there." Masters said, "I'm consistent. I say what I think. For better or worse, I saw what I think."
Decision 2022
Track all of our current updates with the upcoming elections in Arizona on our 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe for updates on all of our new uploads.