“I am not a coward but I am a realist,” the woman said. “And I choose to protect my identity to protect those I love. Herschel Walker is a hypocrite and he is not fit to be a U.S. senator.”
“We do not need people in the U.S. Senate who profess one thing and do another,” she added.
As a candidate, Walker has said he opposes abortion in all situations, with no exceptions for rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. He has said he would back a national ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Allred showed cards, photographs and receipts that she said supported her client’s story. She also played a voicemail from Walker to the woman while he was participating in the 1992 Winter Olympics that confirmed the relationship. The Washington Post did not independently confirm these allegations.
Walker has denied a previous claim from an ex-partner that he forced her to have an abortion in 2009. On Wednesday, he denied the latest report during a campaign stop in Georgia.
“I’m done with this foolishness. I’ve already told people this is a lie and I’m not going to entertain” it, Walker said. ”I also want you to know I didn’t kill JFK either.”
The accuser said Walker’s Republican politics had nothing to do with her going public with her story.
“I am a registered independent and I voted for Donald Trump in both elections. I do not believe that Herschel is morally fit to be a U.S. senator,” she said.
The woman said she was motivated to come forward after Walker attempted to discredit the other woman’s claim that he paid for her abortion during a recent Fox News interview.
The mother of one of Walker’s children told The Washington Post earlier this month that she repeatedly pressed the GOP candidate for funds to pay for a 2009 abortion that he wanted her to have. The same woman said Walker pressured her to have an abortion again when she became pregnant a second time, although she chose to give birth to their son, who is now 10.
Walker acknowledged giving a $700 check to his then-partner in 2009, but in an interview, he continued to deny the woman’s claim that the money was provided to pay for an abortion.
Walker is locked in a close race with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) that is crucial to majority control of the Senate, with polls showing the two candidates separated by just a few percentage points despite the earlier reports about Walker that initially roiled the race.
Top Republicans have stood by the candidate and made several campaign appearances with him. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.,), who has proposed the national abortion ban, campaigned with Walker on Wednesday.
In her statement Wednesday, the woman said she met Walker in the 1980s and had a friendship with the former college football star for two years before beginning a romantic relationship in November 1987. Walker played for the Dallas Cowboys at the time and she lived nearby. He would visit her multiple times a week and she would attend home football games, she said. When she would travel to away games, she said, she would often stay in the same hotel as Walker and the team.
According to the woman, their relationship continued when he was traded to the Minnesota Vikings and later the Philadelphia Eagles, and she even helped him select his home in Minnesota.
“I was very devoted to Herschel and he gave me the impression he was devoted to me as well,” she said. “He repeatedly told me how much he loved me — often in writing and reiterated that he wanted to end his marriage.”
“However, there was always some reason why he wasn’t quite ready to do so,” she added.
According to the woman, it became more clear that she and Walker would not go on to to have the type of relationship she desired when she became pregnant in April 1993 despite being on birth control. She said Walker was upset and pressured her into having an abortion — something she did not want to do.
Walker allegedly gave the woman cash for an abortion, but when she arrived at a Dallas clinic, she said, she became overwhelmed with emotion and decided she could not move forward with the procedure. She left the clinic in tears.
Walker was upset and took her back to the clinic the following day and waited for her until the abortion was completed, she said. He then drove her to the pharmacy to get medication before taking her home.
“I was devastated because I felt that I had been pressured into having an abortion,” she said. “After the abortion, I felt that Herschel began distancing himself from me. I left Dallas within days of the abortion.”
The woman said the trauma of the experience caused her to stay away from Dallas for more than 15 years. She called the relationship was detrimental.
“In retrospect, I know I was naïve and Herschel took advantage of me,” she said. “I spent years of my life solely devoted to Herschel and gave up other opportunities solely to be with him.”
In her statement, the woman said she had proof that Walker paid for her an abortion and sent her a card signed with the letter ‘H.’ Walker has argued on air that he never signs cards with the letter ‘H.’ But the woman said that was an untruthful statement and that he had sent her multiple cards signed with the letter ‘H.’
Allred said Walker’s actions are fundamentally inconsistent with the worldview he espouses on the campaign trail.
“Mr. Walker professes to be against abortion even though he paid for and pressured our client to have an abortion,” she said. “Despite his attempts to clothe himself with Christian family values, he nevertheless had an affair with our client for six years.”
In response to the latest accusation, Rachel Petri, deputy campaign manager for Warnock, said in a statement, “We know Herschel Walker has a problem with the truth, a problem answering questions, and a problem taking responsibility for his actions. Today’s new report is just the latest example of a troubling pattern we have seen play out again and again and again. Herschel Walker shouldn’t be representing Georgians in the U.S. Senate.”
