Most Americans want abortion to be legal. According to the Pew Research Center, 60% say it should be legal in all or most cases.

Republicans know that number. So in 2026, a lot of Republicans with long anti-abortion records are running as if those records don't exist. They've scrubbed websites, stopped selling merchandise, and told voters they'd never ban or restrict anything.

We already wrote about the Republicans with the worst abortion records, the ones making no secret of it. This post is about a different group: Republicans who are running away from their own records. Here are six, and what they said and did before the election got close.

Scott Perry: five times a cosponsor, "let the states figure that out"

Scott Perry, the congressman from central Pennsylvania, has cosponsored the Life at Conception Act five times: in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, and most recently on February 10, 2026. The bill defines a human being to include every member of the species "at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization." That's a nationwide abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or IVF embryos.

But in April 2024, while he was a cosponsor, Perry told FOX43 he didn't support a national ban: "Let's honor the court's decision, and then have the states figure that out so that we have those decisions being made locally, where they should be."

His campaign website now says he "makes exceptions" for rape, incest and the life of the mother. That language wasn't there in May 2024. The website added exceptions. The bill he signed onto again this February still has none.

Rob Bresnahan: "under any circumstances," for three months

At his only 2024 debate, Rob Bresnahan of northeastern Pennsylvania said: "I would not support a federal ban on abortion under any circumstances," adding that a representative in Washington shouldn't be making those decisions.

Three months after that debate, on January 23, 2025, he voted for H.R. 21, a federal abortion bill that would threaten doctors with fines and up to five years in prison over how they handle the most wrenching late-pregnancy cases. More than a dozen medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, called it "a dangerous government intrusion into medical care."

Then he voted for Trump's budget bill, which shut Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid for a year. Planned Parenthood Keystone, which runs the Wilkes-Barre clinic in his district among its seven clinics, had seen 5,253 Medicaid patients in fiscal 2024, for care like birth control, cancer screenings and prenatal care. We laid out the whole reversal here.

Darren Bailey: "Personally, in my heart, I don't"

In 2022, Darren Bailey ran for governor of Illinois calling for abortion to be banned except to save the mother's life. Asked whether he'd allow exceptions for rape or incest, he said: "Personally, in my heart, I don't." He called the fall of Roe "historic and welcomed."

Running again in 2026, he posted: "Let's settle this right now: I am not banning abortion. And I am not restricting it."

That new position didn't stop him from appearing at an anti-abortion group's rally this summer, where his running mate called abortion a "sin against God." We covered that too.

Stacy Garrity: the "Born to be Pro-Life" onesies came down

When Roe fell, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity called it "a great day for the sanctity of life." A month later she posted "Roses are red, violets are blue, defund Planned Parenthood" and sold merchandise with the slogan.

After she launched her campaign for governor, the store changed. According to Politico, she stopped selling "LIFE WON" bumper stickers, "Born to be Pro-Life" onesies and "DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD" T-shirts, and said she wouldn't support a state abortion ban.

The pivot has limits. In April, when a Pennsylvania court ruled the state constitution protects a right to abortion and struck down the ban on Medicaid coverage, Garrity called the decision "immoral" and told voters "Elections have consequences."

Kelly Ayotte: clear "from the day I announced"

As New Hampshire's attorney general and then a U.S. senator, Kelly Ayotte built a long anti-abortion record. As a senator she cosponsored a federal 20-week abortion ban and voted against a Jeanne Shaheen budget amendment setting up a fund to protect access to birth control and contraceptive coverage.

Asked on WMUR whether she'd support a bill protecting abortion rights, she dated her current position herself: "I've been very clear from the day I announced my candidacy that I would not change that law."

To be fair, as governor she has kept that promise so far, pledging to veto further restrictions. But that promise protects New Hampshire's current 24-week law, which has no exceptions for rape or incest. It doesn't undo a career of fighting for more.

Joe Lombardo: "I just thought about it more"

In 2022, Nevada's Joe Lombardo said he'd support sending voters a 13-week abortion ban. Asked at a primary debate whether he'd support bans on morning-after pills and waiting periods, he said, "Yes, absolutely."

By the October debate he no longer backed the 13-week ban and said he wasn't against emergency contraception, though he still supported mandatory waiting periods. His explanation for the change: "I thought about it more and evaluated. Not my political position or my campaign. I just thought about it more."

Now he says the issue is settled, but still says he'd personally support a 15-week cutoff, nine weeks earlier than Nevada law. And in June 2025 he vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have guaranteed Nevadans a right to IVF. We covered that veto here.

The pattern

None of these six erased their records. They changed their messaging. The cosponsorships, votes, merchandise and debate answers are all still on file. And the offices they want still decide abortion policy: governors sign or veto state bills, and members of Congress vote on national ones.

What the record shows

Scott Perry has cosponsored a no-exceptions national abortion ban five times, most recently in February 2026, while telling voters he opposes a national ban. Rob Bresnahan said he would never support a federal abortion ban and that Washington shouldn't make those decisions, then voted for a federal abortion bill three months later. Darren Bailey, Stacy Garrity, Kelly Ayotte and Joe Lombardo all built records opposing abortion rights, from no exceptions for rape to a 13-week ban to "Defund Planned Parenthood" T-shirts, and each softened that position when they ran for governor.