Following Tuesday's debate, campaign officials for Democratic candidate John Fetterman highlighted Dr. Mehmet Oz's stance on abortion in a new ad.
Shortly after the debate, Fetterman's campaign announced they would run ads featuring the Republican challenger's response to moderators regarding his stance on abortion. Oz noted he was against federal government regulation of abortion and suggested the argument belonged to state and local government.
"As a physician, I've been in the room when there's some difficult conversations happening," said Oz, who previously said he was in favor of abortion in cases of rape, incest, and for the protection the the mother's life. "I don't want the federal government involved with that at all. I want women, doctors, local political leaders letting the democracy that's always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves."
Oz continued claiming Fetterman would support mandating access to an abortion up to 38 weeks gestation. Fetterman hesitated as he responded, "I wanna look into the face — of every woman in Pennsylvania."
"If you believe that the choice of your reproductive freedom belongs with Dr. Oz then you have a choice. But if you believe that the choice for abortion belongs between you and your doctor that's what I fight for. Roe v. Wade for me is — should be the law," Fetterman awkwardly declared. "[Oz] celebrated when Roe v. Wade went down and my campaign would fight for Roe v. Wade and if given the opportunity to codify it into law."
President Joe Biden commented on Oz's remarks in a Wednesday morning tweet.
"If Dr. Oz gets his way, where does this end? Would he recommend local officials make decisions about cancer treatments? Colonoscopies? Or is this kind of scrutiny reserved just for women?"
Fetterman announced his campaign's new ad Wednesday morning while lightly jabbing Republican Gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
"Our newest ad after last night's #PASenateDebate. Dr. Oz would 'let political leaders' like Doug Mastriano ban abortion without exceptions even in cases of rape, incest, or life of the mother. Too extreme for [Pennsylvania]."
On Wednesday evening, Joe Calvello, director of communications for Fetterman's campaign, announced the Senate candidate had raised $2 million after the debate. He noted some of the funds would be used to air their ad highlighting Oz's abortion response on television in key markets.
Twitter users doubled down on their support for Fetterman following the debate, citing Oz's abortion remark as the defining moment that secured a win for the Lieutenant Governor.
"Having survived a stroke 3 years ago myself, I have so much respect for @JohnFetterman's courage last night. Clearly wasn't easy but PA voters heard from a brave leader. Let’s be clear, Oz’s abortion answer defines this debate," said one user.
Calvello agreed with the sentiment, noting one clip of Oz's response had over 5.5 million views.
Other users created memes of Oz's "local political leader" quote.
