Pro-Kobach PAC accuses Marshall of performing an abortion. Kansans For Life disputes
A super PAC that supports Kris Kobach has sent out a mailer in the final days of the heated Senate Republican primary race accusing Rep. Roger Marshall of performing abortions.
The explosive claim against Marshall, an OB-GYN endorsed by Kansans For Life and other major anti-abortion groups, is based on a single tweet from Shonita Swank, a Hoisington woman whose social media posts have frequently accused Marshall of hypocrisy on abortion rights.
The mailer was paid for by Free Forever PAC, a group almost entirely funded by California billionaire Peter Thiel, a longtime Kobach ally who had steered $850,000 into the PAC as of July. It come just days before the August 4 primary.
Marshall’s campaign and Kansans For Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, decried the mailer as a smear and said the procedure that Swank claims she underwent to remove an ectopic pregnancy does not constitute an abortion.
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes. It can be life-threatening if not treated. Many anti-abortion groups, including the National Right to Life and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, draw a distinction between the procedure and abortion.
“This is, without question, the most pathetic and low political lie we have ever seen. This patient, by her own public admission, had a tragic ectopic pregnancy, and Dr. Marshall literally saved her life. Dr. Marshall has never participated in an abortion. Period,” said Eric Pahls, Marshall’s campaign manager.
The mailer says “Marshall’s former patients claim he performed abortions on them,” but the only case cited is Swank’s. She said Wednesday that she was unaware of her tweet’s use in the mailer until being alerted by The Star.
“I don’t like them using it, but I don’t feel like there’s anything I can do about it,” said Swank, who works as a circulation director for the Great Bend Tribune.
“I understand though that social media is public. I understand I don’t have rights to it when it’s public.”
Free Forever PAC did not respond to question about its level of certainty regarding the claims in its mailer or the distinctions drawn by anti-abortion groups. The PAC has spent roughly $1.3 million on the Senate on mailers and ads promoting Kobach and attacking Marshall.
Swank’s claims
The Star reached out to Swank earlier this year based on her tweets, but did not publish her claims because it was unable to independently verify them without access to her medical records.
Swank, 47, said she lost the records in a tornado in Barton County, an event which received local news coverage in 2017. She said she did not remember the year procedure took place and gave a broad range of 1997 to 2002.
Swank is in the process of trying to retrieve her records from Dodge City Medical Center, where she says they are stored.
Swank said she had been bleeding for two months before her appointment to see Marshall but was forced to delay treatment because she lacked insurance.
She said Marshall diagnosed her with an ectopic pregnancy and ordered surgery after determining her situation was life threatening based on a blood test.
Swank said he did not order a sonogram because it was not covered as a pre-existing condition by her insurance, which she purchased after she had been bleeding for a month.
The lack of a sonogram, which was the subject of her tweet featured in the mailer, remains a point of frustration for Swank. She said she worries that she could have been misdiagnosed without the sonogram, but she does not believe her pregnancy would have been viable.
“I honestly don’t think there was anything he could have done to save the pregnancy. I was bleeding too much,” she said.
Planned Parenthood’s website says that ectopic pregnancies are rare, occurring in roughly 2 of every 100 pregnancies. If not treated, the fallopian tube can rupture, which can cause internal bleeding and sometimes death.
“Ectopic pregnancies cannot be saved — they cannot grow to full term or nearly full term fetuses, and they cannot be re-implanted in the uterus or elsewhere,” Dr. Gillian Dean, senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said last year.
Kansans For Life, the state’s leading anti-abortion group which endorsed Marshall, drew distinctions between an abortion and the procedure to remove an ectopic pregnancy in a statement condemning the mailer and reaffirming its support for the western Kansas congressman.
“The person admitted the so-called abortion was done because of an ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancies occur when the embryo implants in the tiny fallopian tube and continues to grow there instead of in the womb. If not surgically interrupted, it grows until the tube bursts causing serious and urgent hemorrhaging that threatens the mother’s life,” said Kansans For Life PAC.
“Because of these severe consequences of ectopic pregnancy, no religious denomination or organization that has a strong position on pro-life that we know of, opposes the emergency surgical intervention of these types of pregnancies in order to save the mother’s life,” the statement said.
KFL noted that Marshall has delivered more than 5,000 babies, a statistic frequently used in his campaign material, and has a 100% anti-abortion record in Congress.
KFL also noted Swank’s support for likely Democratic nominee Barbara Bollier. Swank donated $10 to Bollier’s campaign through ActBlue, the national Democratic fundraising platform, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Swank said her criticism of Marshall stems from her frustration with his treatment and what she views as hypocrisy on the abortion issue.
“I don’t appreciate hypocrisy and to be touting yourself as so pro-life but not giving the whole story that there are instances… There are instances where they do have to happen to save a life and unfortunately the child cannot be saved,” said Swank, who has four children.
‘Last ditch attempt’
Kobach’s campaign said it had no involvement with the mailers, but called Swank’s claims in the tweet a “troubling accusation against Roger Marshall that needs to be answered.”
The mailers attacking Marshall follow ads from Plains PAC that hammer Kobach for support for abortion rights early in his political career as a candidate for the Kansas Legislature in 2000. Kobach told The Star in 2018 he changed his position after becoming a father.
Marshall’s campaign said the mailers were an effort to distract from Kobach’s past position on the issue.
“Voters are seeing the final chapter of Kris Kobach’s embarrassing career in politics, and it is being entirely bankrolled by a Hollywood tech billionaire who is making a last ditch attempt to distract from Kobach’s documented pro-abortion past,” Pahls said in a statement.
“Dr. Marshall ran a nationally recognized pro-life practice for 25 years and is an awarded lifetime member of the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNs. In Congress, he’s had a perfect pro-life voting record, and has been endorsed by every major pro-life organization in Kansas and the country,” he said.
Marshall has at no point hid the fact that as an OB-GYN he handled ectopic pregnancies. In an interview with The Star last month, he made reference to treating women for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages and said in these situations he tries to be “a messenger of hope.”
Rachel Sweet, the regional director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, said it was disappointing to see the two top Republicans in the Senate race compete over who opposed abortion the most.
“Women make decisions about their pregnancies for personal and medical reasons, not political ones, and people shouldn’t have their stories exploited to serve a political agenda,” Sweet said in reference to the mailers. “When anti-abortion politicians posture and stigmatize essential health care for political gain, Kansans lose.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 7:14 PM.
