Blake Masters should represent Nike. Just watch how he runs from his views on abortion

The great Blake Masters makeover continued on Thursday as Arizona’s Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate looked into the camera and pronounced himself both “pro life” and a supporter of a woman’s right to get an abortion.

“I'm pro-life. I’m proud to be pro-life,” Masters said, during Thursday’s Clean Elections debate of Senate candidates. “I will never run from that.”

Then he proceeded to put on his track shoes.

“But in Arizona,” Masters continued, “As a voter, I support the 15-week law, with all the exceptions.”

Actually, the only exception allowed in that law – the one that bans abortion after 15 weeks – is for dying mothers. Rape victims are required to carry their attackers' babies.

But that could be largely moot, given the recent reinstatement of an 1864 law that criminalizes abortion in Arizona unless it’s to save the life of the mother. I saw could be, because the Arizona Court of Appeals late Friday put a hold on the older law, until the court can hear an appeal.

A few months ago, Masters would be have been applauding the return of that 19th century law.

But then, that was the old Blake Masters, the candidate who stumped across the state for a year advocating a national ban on abortion.

He launched his Senate campaign with a call to overturn Roe v. Wade and pass a federal personhood law, noting that abortion is "demonic."

“It’s a religious sacrifice for these people (liberals),” he told conservative podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey in September 2021. “I think it’s demonic.”

In January, he chided his Republican opponents for suggesting that the question of whether abortion should be legal should be left to the states.

“What good is actually winning elections if you don’t do what you promised to do when you get in?” he said, during a Jan. 27 forum in Gilbert.

In May, Masters expounded on his call for a federal personhood law.

“I think the 14th Amendment says you have the right to life, liberty and property,” he said, during an event in Carefree. “You can’t deprive someone with that without due process. Hard to imagine a bigger deprivation of due process than killing a small child before they have a chance to take their first breath. So I think you do need a federal personhood law.”

Everything changed after Aug. 2, when suddenly Masters had to win over more than just his MAGA base.

After winning the Republican primary, Masters scrubbed his website of his vow to be "100% pro life." Gone was his pledge to “support a federal personhood law (ideally a constitutional amendment) that recognizes that unborn babies are human beings that may not be killed.”

During Thursday’s debate, he pitched himself to those all-important moderate and independent voters as a new and improved Blake Masters. An evolved Masters. One who is both "pro life" and an abortion supporter.

“Just last year Arizona passed a law that limits abortion after 15 weeks,” he said. “I support that law. That’s where Arizonans find a reasonable place to draw the line.”

And Masters’ pre-primary call for a national abortion ban? The one that in early August became a call for a national ban in the third trimester?  That now has been whittled down to support for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“Sen. Lindsey Graham has proposed a 15-week bill with the common exceptions and I support that," Masters said during Thursday's debate. "I believe in limits. Mark Kelly believes in no limits at all.”

Masters paints Kelly is an “abortion radical,” noting that Kelly supported “a bill that would have mandated legal abortions nationwide, get this, up until the moment of birth.”

He was referring to the failed Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have allowed late-term abortions  “when a provider determines the pregnancy risks the patient’s life or health.”

Kelly called Masters’ suggestion that he lives to kill babies “nonsense.”

“I support the restrictions and the protections allowed under Roe v. Wade,” he said. “Abortion only happens very late in pregnancy when there are serious issues and it’s heartbreaking when this happens.”

Indeed, abortions in the final weeks of pregnancy are exceedingly rare. Terminations at 21 weeks or later account for about 1% of all abortions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What doesn’t seem to be rare is Masters ever changing views on abortion.

He ducked a question about whether he always has supported allowing abortion up to 15 weeks.

"I believe Arizonans have the right to make this law," he replied.

As opposed, say, to last January, when he was all about a national ban, noting "What good is actually winning elections if you don’t do what you promised to do when you get in?”

Forget the track shoes. Booties might be more appropriate for this high-wire act.

He’s pro life … except, apparently, when he isn’t.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Blake Masters should represent Nike. Watch him run from abortion views