Republican in key Senate race claims young women are ‘indoctrinated’ on abortion in unearthed recording

The Republican candidate in a crucial US Senate race in Montana has accused young women of being "indoctrinated" into becoming "single-issue voters" on abortion.

In recordings made public on Monday by The Char-Koosta News , a newspaper on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana, Tim Sheehy said that reproductive rights were "all [young women] want to talk about" and falsely claimed that Democrats support murdering babies after they've been born.

The former US Navy Seal is running against Democratic incumbent Jon Tester for one of Montana's two Senate seats, which is highly contested and could easily end up deciding control of the chamber.

"Listen, they've been indoctrinated for too long," Sheehy is reported to have said during a campaign stop at the Big Sky Motel in Superior, Montana in September 2023.

"I sat with a group of younger folks a couple of months ago, talking about just various issues, and one of them was life. Because of course, young women between the ages of 19 and 30, abortion is their number one concern.

"That's all they want to talk about. They are single-issue voters. "It's all about pro-choice, pro-choice. 'Republicans are pro-life, they want to take my rights away and lock me up and throw me in prison.'"

Sheehy then said the voters' attitude changed when he described to them the Democrats' position on abortion, which he characterised as supporting "murder,” and argued that Republicans should not stop trying to persuade younger women to vote for them.

"When you explain that to younger folks, actually explain the issues and talk to them, the light bulb [lights up]... so we've gotta talk to young people," he said.

He also repeated the false claim, made by many Republicans, that Democratic legislature "supports federally funded abortions up to and including the moment of birth, and protects doctors for abortions that happen after the moment of birth".

He added: “That’s not an abortion after they’re born. It’s called murder. Like, that is the political position of the American Democrat Party.”

The Char-Koosta News released the full recordings of the event in response to a claim by Sheehy that it had misleadingly edited the clips.

According to the News , Sheehy also made multiple disparaging comments about Montana's indigenous Crow people, claiming they were often "drunk at 8am" and claimed they had thrown beer cans at his head.

In a statement to the New York Times , a spokeswoman for Mr. Sheehy’s campaign, while not specifically addressing the comments in the recordings, said: “Tim has been crystal-clear that he is pro-life with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.” The statement also criticized Mr. Tester, blaming him for the state of inflation, home prices and security at the southern border. The Independent has contacted Mr. Sheehy’s campaign for comment.