Republican Scott Brown called on opponent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen to pull an ad he says misrepresents the so-called Women’s Right to Know bill he co-sponsored as a Massachusetts state senator.
The ad was controversial from the moment it began running.
For the Shaheen campaign, this ad is the sharpest effort yet in the race for U.S. Senate to undercut Scott Brown’s record on abortion rights.
The ad features the image of a bill Brown co-sponsored in 2005 and says the proposal would have forced women considering an abortion to view images of developing fetuses during a 24-hour waiting period.
According to Shaheen, who camapigned in Derry Tuesday, the ad shows Brown is not the pro-choice candidate he claims to be.
“This is an issue that we’re going to talk about in this campaign because Scott Brown is not…he’s being disingenuous when he says he’s pro-choice.”
Later in the day, Brown, also in Derry Tuesday, held a press conference to respond to the ad, calling it a smear.
Brown says the bill didn’t force women to view anything.
“It required doctors to provide alternatives to abortion, to provide additional information, and that woman could have taken that and put it right in the barrel if she wanted to. It wasn’t forced.”
When pressed on what information doctors would have been required to provide, Brown said it was never determined because the bill failed.