Is Republican congressman in California tossup really ‘pro-choice’? What both candidates say

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Rep. John Duarte, R-Modesto, said he’s “pro-choice” in a CNN video circulated on Sunday.

He also said that former President Donald Trump is “fundamentally pro-choice” by wanting the states rather than the federal government to regulate abortion law.

Duarte is seeking to keep his congressional seat in what’s considered one of the nation’s most closely-contested, closely-watched races in a Democratic-leaning district. Abortion rights is regarded nationally as a pivotal issue, and could sway a tight race.

Duarte has made claims about being pro-choice before, saying he opposes federal efforts to curtail abortion access. In an interview with The Bee on Friday, Duarte said, “I’m pro-choice and it’s as simple as that. I’ve got a pro-choice voting record in Congress.”

The term “pro-choice” is used routinely by abortion rights supporters to advocate for legal access to services.

To abortion rights supporters, Duarte has not been completely pro-choice. He has voted on legislation with anti-abortion Republicans, and expressed support for the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning nearly 50 years of federal abortion rights policy.

Still, his record in the eyes of abortion rights activists and anti-abortion advocates alike does not place him among far-right Republicans.

Duarte earned 21% on Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s scorecard — the higher the score, the more the organization deems the lawmaker is supporting sexual and reproductive health based on their voting record. Duarte’s score is higher than most Republicans; only a handful of GOP members scored the same or higher.

He gets a C rating from the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a lower grade than most House Republicans: Only eight do not get an A-plus.

Duarte said at The Modesto Bee debate in 2022 he thinks abortion should be accessible through three months of pregnancy, shorter than previous federal protections in place under the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.

In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the near 50-year precedent that set federal abortion protections through fetal viability, generally regarded at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. This 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization allowed states nationwide to enforce laws banning or restricting access to abortions.

The decision is credited as a reason Democrats did well in the midterm elections that year. Rather than an anticipated “red wave,” Republicans won only a razor-thin House majority.

California abortion protections

California added a right to an abortion and contraceptives to the state’s Constitution through a widely-supported 2022 ballot initiative. Abortion is legal in California up until the point of fetal viability. After that it is is only legal to save the life or health of the parent.

“I will oppose a nationwide abortion ban,” Duarte said in the interview with The Bee. “I do believe abortion should be left to the states, and here in California, I don’t think anyone is worried about overly restrictive abortion.”

Duarte criticized Democrats chastising his abortion position in California’s 13th Congressional District, where nonpartisan election analysts say one of the nation’s closest House races will unfold between the freshman congressman and former Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced.

Their 2024 rematch election is a tossup.

With the nationalization of elections and reduction of split-ticket voting — where voters choose candidates from different parties for different offices on the same ballot — analysts predict that issues such as abortion that are heavily discussed nationally will weigh on local races, including in the 13th district.

Gray said in an interview with The Bee on Friday that Congress should codify rights previously set under Roe v. Wade. He said “it’s cynical and wrong that some of these Republicans try to pretend that they’re pro-choice because they’re pro-states rights” when it means some states enact highly restrictive abortion laws.

“Codify Roe v. Wade tomorrow and solve this problem and have protections in place for every American,” he said.

Duarte and abortion

There are a few votes where that abortion rights advocates are particularly critical of Duarte.

In 2023, Duarte voted for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would have required health care providers to try to preserve an infant’s life if born alive during or after an abortion, a rare circumstance. Health care providers who failed to do so could have faced fines or up to five years in prison if the legislation had been passed by the Senate and signed into law.

It is already illegal to intentionally kill a baby that is born alive. Opponents of the bill said it was meant to intimidate health care providers who offer abortions. All House Republicans who cast a vote on the bill supported it.

In 2023, Duarte voted for a failed agriculture-related appropriations bill that incorporated legislation to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Twenty-seven Republicans voted no, with many citing the mifepristone limitations.

That year he also voted for a defense spending bill with an amendment to bar the Department of Defense from reimbursing service members for travel to receive abortion care.

Duarte opposed the amendment, but still voted for the overall bill. Four Republicans voted no.

Trump and abortion

Trump previously took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, writing on his social media platform Truth Social in May 2023, “After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade.”

At this month’s presidential debate, Trump again praised the 2022 decision and took credit for placing three conservative justices on the Supreme Court to accomplish it. “I’m not signing a ban and there’s no reason to sign a ban because we’ve gotten what everybody wanted, Democrats, Republicans and everybody else, and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states,” Trump claimed.

He declined to say if he would sign a national abortion ban when pressed by debate moderators.

“No, he’s pro-choice,” Duarte said of Trump in the recent CNN interview. “He wants the states to make their policy themselves. He doesn’t want to federalize abortion law. Neither do I.”

“He opposes abortion rights,” the reporter responded.

“No, he doesn’t,” Duarte said. “He said the states are moving towards abortion rights, one by one. The Dobbs decision put it back to the states. I believe abortion belongs to the states.”

Gray: ‘Codify Roe v. Wade’

As a Democrat in the California State Assembly, Gray helped write the 2022 ballot proposition that added a right to an abortion and contraceptives to the state Constitution.

Gray served in the Assembly for a decade before giving up his seat to pursue a congressional bid in 2022. He lost to Duarte, a farmer and businessman, by fewer than 600 votes that year in one of the closest House races.

The 13th district has more registered Democrats than Republicans.

It is one of more than a dozen congressional districts across the country held by GOP congressmen where President Joe Biden would have beaten Trump in 2020 had current legislative boundaries been in place. Boundaries were redrawn to reflect the 2020 census. Voters in the new 13th would have picked Biden by 11 points in 2020.

It’s a Latino-majority voting-age district with a large population of young people.

Compared to the rest of California, this district tends to have low turnout, leading older, white, more conservative voters to disproportionately impact elections there.