A woman came forward Wednesday to accuse Herschel Walker, the anti-abortion Republican running for US Senate in Georgia, of encouraging and paying for her 1993 abortion.
The AP asked for comment from Walker's campaign. The candidate denied a claim that he paid for and encouraged a woman to have an abortion two years before she gave birth to their child.
Gloria Allred arranged for the second accuser to speak to reporters via an audio call. The woman claimed that Walker, a former college and professional football star making his first bid for public office, pressured her into an abortion and paid for one after she became pregnant while he was married to his first wife.
He has publicly stated that he is against abortion and personally ensured that I had an abortion by driving me to the clinic and paying for it. She doesn't want to reveal her identity because she's afraid of repercussions against her and her family.
She said she did not think Herschel was morally fit to be a senator.
She said she wasn't influenced by partisan loyalties when she came forward. She claimed to be an independent and voted for Donald Trump twice.
The issue of abortion returned to the forefront of the campaign after the second round of allegations against Walker. Party control of the Senate is at stake in the race between Walker and Warnock.
Walker was campaigning in the state.
According to Allred, Walker gave her client and a hotel receipt from Minnesota, among other things. Allred played a phone message that she said was left by Walker for her client after he arrived in Europe.
Allred has represented many clients who have accused powerful men of sexual assault and harassment.
When The Daily Beast broke the story of the first abortion allegation, Walker insisted he had no idea who could make such a claim, but that was undermined by a follow up report in which the woman identified herself as the mother of one of his children.
Her evidence included a receipt for an abortion, a get-well card signed by Walker, and a personal check from an athlete. Five days after her abortion receipt, she received a check.
Walker gave a woman money to get an abortion after she told him she was pregnant. She said that she went to a clinic on her own, but couldn't get an abortion. She said Walker was angry when she told him. He drove her to the clinic, waited in the car for the procedure to start, and then took her to fill her prescriptions.
Allred refused to discuss the cost or records of the alleged abortion.
Walker's responses evolved from absolute denials to suggesting the signature on a get-well card wasn't his to suggesting he didn't know it was to cover an abortion.
Walker denied that he ever signed anything with a single initial "H." She said he had signed her cards that way.
The first woman has asked that her name not be used because of her privacy concerns. She said that she is a registered Democrat and that she is speaking out because of Walker's hypocrisy.
She told multiple media outlets that she was the same woman who filed a paternity suit in New York. She has said that Walker encouraged her to end their second pregnancy and that he only saw their son a few times.
Walker's campaign shared text messages between his wife and child's mother with NBC News.
After The Daily Beast published a story on the abortion claim, Walker promised to file a lawsuit. Walker didn't say if he had taken legal action against the outlet.
Walker has been put on the defensive about his claims of being a family man and his previous support for a national abortion ban without any exceptions. Congress has been discussing federal legislation to set a national regulation since the Supreme Court ended a constitutional right to an abortion.
Walker was consistent in his opposition to abortion. After winning the nomination, he tried to turn the issue around by suggesting that the Democrat supports no limits on abortion access.
Walker denied his previous position and said that he supports Georgia's new state law banning abortion before many women know they're pregnant. There are exceptions for pregnancies that involve rape, incest or threats to a woman's life or health.
Walker's past has been a focus of the campaign.
He's been accused of threatening his ex-wife's life, exaggerating claims of financial and business success, and overstating his role in a for-profit program that is accused of preying upon veterans and service members.
Walker admitted the existence of three children he had not previously talked about publicly, including the son of the woman who first accused Walker of urging her to have abortions.
More than one million Georgia voters have cast their ballot in advance of Election Day, either by mail or in person. At this point in last year's election, that is 50% higher.
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Barrow was reporting from Atlanta.
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The Associated Press has coverage of the elections.
If you want to learn more about the issues and factors that will play a role in the upcoming elections, you can check out the explaining-the-elections website.
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