The woman who made the bombshell claim that Herschel Walker paid for her abortion has now said she is also the mother of one of his children, according to a report.
Mr Walker, a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate who has railed against abortion access throughout his campaign in Georgia, swiftly denied the allegation made on Tuesday in a Daily Beast report, pledging to sue the outlet for defamation.
The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, told the Daily Beast in a second report on Wednesday that she wants to remain anonymous as she is also the mother of one of Mr Walker’s own children and she wants to protect the family’s privacy.
The woman said she was stunned by Mr Walker’s response to her initial claims as the two have a long dating history as well as a shared child.
“Sure, I was stunned, but I guess it also doesn’t shock me, that maybe there are just so many of us that he truly doesn’t remember,” she told the outlet. “But then again, if he really forgot about it, that says something, too.”
The woman, who the Daily Beast said is a registered Democrat, said she has been a “good sport” so far but wanted to speak out further after his outright denial.
“I’ve been very civil thus far. I keep my mouth shut. I don’t cause any trouble. I stay in the background. But I’m also not gonna get run over time and time again,” she said. “That’s crazy.”
In the initial report, the woman claimed that Mr Walker paid for an abortion when they were dating in 2009 but their relationship continued after it.
The woman backed up her claim with “a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, a ‘get well’ card from [Mr] Walker, and a bank deposit receipt that included an image of a signed $700 personal check from [Mr] Walker”, the report stated.
It comes as Georgia’s Senate race is seen as one of the most important in the country for both parties, but particularly the Republicans, as they hope to flip the upper chamber by ousting incumbent senator Raphael Warnock.
Mr Walker denied the woman’s initial claim in a statement posted to his social media, adding in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that the story was a “flat-out lie”. He has yet to respond to Wednesday’s report, and The Independent has contacted Mr Walker’s representatives for a comment.
He said “desperate” Democrats are targetting him to maintain control of the pivotal Senate seat.
“They see me as a big threat, and I know that and I knew it when I got into this race. But they don’t realise that I think they came for the wrong one. They energised me,” Mr Walker said. “They energised me, because I know how they really want to try to keep this seat.”
If proved true, the allegations would be damning for a staunchly anti-abortion Republican. He has repeatedly come out in favour of legislation that would ban the practice entirely, without exceptions for reasons including rape or incest.
The woman also told the outlet that Mr Walker did not express any regret over the decision of going forward with abortion despite him talking about being a Christian. She said she again got pregnant years later and he said it wasn’t “a convenient time” but she made different choices.
“He seemed pretty pro-choice to me. He was pro-choice, obviously,” she said.
