A television advertisement put out by Asm. Rudy Salas (D–Bakersfield) is attacking Rep. David Valadao (R–Hanford) for his stance on abortion.
The advertisement, which was paid for by Salas and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is titled “Shame.”
In the advertisement, an unnamed woman says the following:
“I can’t understand why David Valadao would support a bill making an abortion a crime after a woman or a young girl has been raped. We should be focused on the grown man who raped a young girl instead of punishing the victim of this crime. Shame on David Valadao.”
The advertisement said Valadao supported bills H.R.490 and H.R.1011.
H.R.490, known as the Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017, would have made it a crime for a physician to knowingly perform an abortion without first determining whether the fetus has a detectable heartbeat and informing the mother of the results. Abortions would also not have been allowed after determining that a fetus has a detectable heartbeat.
It provided an exception for an abortion that is necessary to save the life of a mother.
Any woman who violated the bill would not be prosecuted. Instead, the doctor who performed the abobrtion would be subject to a fine and up to five years in prison.
The bill never became law as it was referred to a committee and never even went to the floor for a vote.
H.R.1011, the Life at Conception Act, was introduced last year and also never made it out of a committee.
Valadao cosponsored the bill, which would have declared that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution applies to all human beings at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization.
The Salas ad attacking Valadao’s abortion record is false, according to his own views on the matter.
A spokesperson for Valadao responded to Salas in a statement to The Sun affirming pro-life beliefs.
“Rep. Valadao has always been pro-life and believes in exceptions in the case of rape, incest, and life of the mother,” the spokesperson said.
“Rudy Salas has to resort to false scare tactics about Valadao because he knows his own extreme stance aborting a baby until the moment of birth views are out of step with the district.”
