Mike Gibbons Slips Up: ‘I Am Pro-Choice 100 Percent’

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio Mike Gibbons slipped up and accidentally said “I am pro choice 100 percent,” during a debate on Friday evening.

“Alright well let me handle pro-choice. First of all, I am pro choice 100 — I’m sorry, pro-life 100 percent,” Gibbons said.

“Talk about a freudian slip,” GOP strategist Andy Surabian, who is advising rival J.D. Vance’s campaign, wrote.

Although Gibbons cleared up his misstatement, this is not the first time his stance on abortion has been called into question.

During Gibbons’ failed Senate candidacy in 2017,  he described himself in an interview with the Associated Press as “a ‘pro-people’ person who’s not dogmatic.”

The AP reported then:

After a Wednesday interview, AP described Gibbons as “a ‘pro-people’ person who’s not dogmatic” on social issues. Gibbons, who’s Catholic, initially told AP he personally opposes abortion but, politically, he’s “not a woman” so wouldn’t choose for them. He said he wasn’t “pro-choice,” though, but “pro-people.”

Last month, Vance hammered Gibbons on his purported pro-life stance. “I think one of the most important issues for the conservative movement is the right to life, right?” Vance said.

“If you’re not willing to stand on that issue, I think it indicates your character as weak, and you don’t have the fortitude to actually serve the interest of our voters,” he added.

Vance also said:

I’m proud of the fact that I’ve had the left attack me for a long time for having the courage of my convictions. And you know what? When Mike Gibbons, they asked him whether he was pro-life, he said no, I wouldn’t call myself pro-life. I think that ultimately it should go to the woman’s choice. Ok? That is the language of pro-abortion. He said he’s not pro-life, he’s pro-people. Ladies and gentlemen, pro-life is pro-people.

Vance’s campaign accused Gibbons of “using pro-abortion language and being squishy on the issue.”

After Vance called out Gibbons for his “pro-people” remarks, Gibbons told Breitbart News, “I am 100 percent pro-life. My own mother was adopted, so this is an issue that is very close to my heart.”

“I’ve made it clear that we need to end abortion, and in the Senate, I’ll only confirm pro-life Justices to the Supreme Court, fully defund planned parenthood, and end the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion,” Gibbons’s adviser added.