Caught on Tape: Kellner Won’t Say if He Supports Right to Choose

AG Candidate Refuses to Disclose His Position on Protecting Abortion Rights for Millions of Coloradans

During yesterday’s candidate debate for Colorado attorney general, GOP nominee John Kellner said he supports the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning a constitutional right to abortion and he refused to answer a direct question from the moderator about his support for reproductive rights. 

When asked “Do you support a woman’s right to choose?” Kellner claimed he was unable to give a “yes or no answer,” eliciting groans from the audience. Attorney General Phil Weiser had no trouble answering “Yes” to the question.

Here’s the exchange, which was also caught on video. You can watch here:

Moderator: “Do you support a woman’s right to choose over her reproductive rights?”

Weiser: “Yes. The Dobbs decision was wrongly decided.”

Kellner: “I don’t think I can give you a bumper sticker answer for this. I think like most Americans, it’s too nuanced a position to be able to tell you a yes or no answer to that.”

“John Kellner’s refusal to respect a woman’s right to choose is disqualifying,” said Colorado Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll. “Our rights are under unprecedented attack, yet John Kellner won’t even say if he supports a woman’s right to choose. If Kellner wants to be the state’s top attorney—who is charged with defending the last bulwark in Colorado for abortion rights, the Reproductive Health Equity Act—voters deserve to know clearly whether he opposes choice and RHEA. This debate made clear: John Kellner will take Colorado backward, supporting the Dobbs decision that threatens to undermine not just access to abortion services, but marriage equality, birth control, and other fundamental rights. And he apparently doesn’t even respect Coloradans enough to admit it. Our reproductive rights are on the ballot this fall in the Colorado Attorney General’s race; the only candidate committed to protecting them is Phil Weiser.”

John Kellner has a long history of hiding his plans to undermine Coloradans’ reproductive rights. Since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade more than a month ago, Kellner has made no public comments about his position on abortion rights or access to contraception. After GOP gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl said she would overturn Colorado’s law protecting reproductive health and abortion care, she suggested she’d have help from “a good attorney general… John Kellner!” And while Attorney General Weiser has brought lawsuits to defend access to abortion and birth control, Kellner dismissed such leadership as “driven by politics.”

In contrast, Attorney General Phil Weiser is a leader in the fight to defend access to reproductive health services. He has criticized the Dobbs decision as a “momentous mistake” and filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court defending abortion rights in that case. As attorney general, Weiser has championed reproductive rights and access to reproductive health services, promising to defend doctors and their patients who seek care in our state. Weiser is endorsed by many reproductive rights advocacy groups, including Cobalt, COLOR, and NARAL.