New reporting from Salon details how Bryan Steil is trying to hide his long anti-abortion record from Wisconsinites.
Steil “quietly removed pro-life positions from the issues page of his campaign website earlier this summer.” Steil’s website previously described him as “proudly pro-life,” praised the Dobbs decision as a “victory for life,” and detailed his support for legislation that would ban abortion.
But Steil scrubbed this information from his campaign website – replacing it with a single line at the bottom of the issues page – in a clear effort to “downplay [his] staunchly anti-abortion views.”
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Bryan Steil is trying to hide his extreme anti-abortion stance because he knows he is out-of-step with Wisconsinites. Steil is clearly running scared and for good reason.”
Salon: “Proudly pro-life” Wisconsin Republican scrubs anti-abortion text from campaign site
- U.S. House Republican from Wisconsin quietly removed pro-life positions from the issues page of his campaign website earlier this summer, as the nation approached the third anniversary of the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade. The move adds to GOP lawmakers’ apparent efforts to downplay their staunchly anti-abortion views as Americans increasingly back abortion access ahead of the 2026 midterms.
- The campaign website for Rep. Bryan Steil, who has served in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District since 2018, underwent an overhaul sometime between May 15 and June 27, snapshots of the website show.
- On May 15, however, that issues page included a larger description of Steil’s pro-life perspective, explaining that he is “proudly pro-life,” lauding the Dobbs decision as a “victory for life,” listing the anti-abortion legislation and initiatives — like the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and striking taxpayer funding for abortion care — he backed and stating his support for access to IVF, according to an archive of the webpage.
- “I am proudly pro-life,” the three-paragraph section began. “We must work to cherish and protect the sanctity of life at its most vulnerable stages.”
- His campaign website now only mentions his support for IVF while nodding to his pro-life views in a single line at the bottom of the issues page.
- Steil’s track record in Congress, however, makes his stance on abortion clear. In 2021, he signed onto an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn the federal right to abortion and lauded the subsequent decision.
- The congressman has twice voted against a bill that would have barred government restrictions on access to abortion care and cosponsored bills that would have criminalized physicians who provide abortions after detecting a heartbeat or in rare cases where a child was born alive after an attempted abortion.
- He has previously received and touted endorsements from Wisconsin Right to Life and “A+” ratings from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
- Some 63% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, including 67% of Wisconsinites, according to Pew Research Center data.
