MADISON, Wis. — Desperate to cover up his long-standing extreme anti-abortion views, Derrick Van Orden is attempting to pull the wool over voters’ eyes and cover up the years he has spent railing against women’s reproductive freedom. Unfortunately for Van Orden, the facts don’t lie, but don’t take our word for it, hear it straight from his own mouth.

New reporting from the Heartland Signal this week shed light on comments from Derrick Van Orden that shows just how extreme he really is. During an interview on conservative talk radio, Derrick Van Orden called for women to “have enough strength of character” to give birth no matter the circumstances and suggested that women seeking abortion care after being assaulted were “evil.”

Read more from the report below. 

Heartland Signal: Derrick Van Orden Denies Ever Being Against Abortion Exceptions Despite Previously Opposing Abortion Exceptions
By: Richard Eberwein

• Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R) has been trading barbs with his opponent Rebecca Cooke about what his previous stance on abortion was, denying he opposes exceptions despite previously calling rape and incest exceptions “evil.”
   
• The latest exchange happened on X, where Cooke pledged to never support a national abortion ban. Van Orden responded by saying she is lying and claiming that it is a “state issue.” He then linked to a Wisconsin Public Radio article of him saying he supports some exceptions in April.
   
• But Van Orden did not acknowledge that he was only calling for exceptions in Wisconsin’s abortion ban in order to compromise with “radical” Democrats.
   
• “It’s deeply troubling to me as a Christian to even bring those things up. But, you know what? We have to understand where we’re at,” Van Orden said on a conservative talk radio show.
   
• And during a radio interview with “WSAU Feedback” in 2020, Van Orden made it clear that he is “ardently pro-life,” and he called for women to “have enough strength of character” to give birth. The Jan. 6 attendee also seemingly opposed rape and incest exceptions.
   
• “You can’t heal that evil [sexual assault] by adding more on it,” Van Orden said.
   
• Van Orden goes on to urge women who have been raped to seek out organizations to help “shepherd through this process” and put the children up for adoption.
   
• During his time in Congress, Van Orden’s temper has become a topic of national discussion, leading to outbursts, name-calling and an ethics complaint.