Herschel Walker, former NFL star turned Republican politician and a staunch anti-abortionist denies the claim that he paid for a woman's abortion procedure in 2009 after he allegedly impregnated her.
The woman made the allegations against Walker on the day before the GOP member walked into the First Baptist Church of Atlanta on Tuesday with his Senate campaign in turmoil. Also, Walker's own son slammed him on social media and called him a liar.
Herschel Walker Denies Allegations
While the Republican publicly denied the claim, any question of whether the Republican Party, its grass-roots activists, and evangelicals would break with him was quickly put to rest. Inside the church, the audience did not wait to render a verdict, they greeted the politician with a standing ovation.
GOP members raced to close ranks behind Walker on Tuesday, from the closed-door confines of the Atlanta church to the corridors of power in Washington. They feared that any break with the former NFL star could cost the party a seat that is widely seen as pivotal to the Republican Party's chances of taking the majority of the Senate in 2022, as per the New York Times.
The president of the Senate Leadership Fund, Steven Law, declared, "Full speed ahead in Georgia." The group, which is the leading Senate Republican super PAC, is aligned with Sen. Mitch McConnell and already booked more than $34 million in television ads in the state.
The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Rick Scott, said that Republicans stand with Walker. The situation shows what appears to be a Republican Party that has become increasingly conditioned to discount questions about personal behavior in pursuit of political victories.
According to the Daily Beast, the woman who made the bombshell allegations against Walker claims that she and the Republican conceived a child while they were dating back in 2009. At the time, Walker allegedly urged his then-girlfriend to get an abortion, one that he reimbursed her for.
Bombshell Accusations Against GOP Senate Candidate
The woman supported her claims with a receipt worth $575 that came from the abortion clinic, a "get well" card from Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 personal check from the Republican politician.
She said that there was a $125 difference because she "ball-parked" the cost of an abortion procedure after Googling and added on expenses such as travel and recovery costs. The details of the story were independently corroborated by the Daily Beast with a close friend that she said took care of her in the days after the procedure.
The woman argued that the former NFL running back, who was not married at the time, told her that it would be more convenient to terminate the pregnancy. He allegedly said that it was not yet the right time for him to have a child. While she shared the same perspective, she did not know that Walker had another child with another woman earlier that same year.
The allegations come as Walker has already been plagued by a long list of embarrassing disclosures about his personal life. Previously, it was revealed that he has had three children with three different women other than his ex-wife and that he falsely claimed to have worked in law enforcement, Yahoo News reported.