U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle is out with a new ad attacking Republican opponent Monique DeSpain on abortion as Democrats in close congressional races continue hammering the GOP on reproductive rights.

Hoyle’s ad, which began airing on Eugene-area TV stations Wednesday, is the latest in a series of salvos over abortion access. It features a clip from a November 2023 television interview with DeSpain in which she said she was “very pleased” with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned the federal right to abortion. 

Abortion access is secure in Oregon, which is tied with Vermont as the state that does the most to protect reproductive rights, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that tracks abortion rights. But abortion remains a key congressional campaign issue, as Democrats in Oregon and elsewhere raise alarms about the prospect of a national abortion ban.

“We need leaders who will protect our freedoms, not strip them away,” Hoyle said. “I will always fight to keep health care decisions between a patient and their medical provider.”

DeSpain called Hoyle’s ad a “lie” in a statement Wednesday.

“My record on this issue is clear and concise – Oregon’s laws guarantee important health decisions are made between a woman and her doctor, not the government. I pledge to protect Oregon’s laws in Congress,” she said. “I oppose a federal ban on abortion, and as a mom, I fully support federal protection for both IVF treatments and contraception. Unlike Val Hoyle, I won’t be a puppet for party leaders.”

DeSpain has said repeatedly in interviews that she believes abortion laws should be left up to individual states, and that she doesn’t support any attempts to regulate abortion at the federal level – whether a national ban or a return to abortion rights nationwide. The House Republican Study Committee, which represents 80% of House Republicans, endorsed a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest with a budget proposal this spring. U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents a large swath of eastern Oregon, is part of that group; the state’s other Republican member of Congress, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, is not. 

Like Chavez-DeRemer, DeSpain has said she intends to be an independent voice in Congress while running to represent a closely divided district that favors Democrats. But Hoyle campaign manager Sage Lawrence said those words conflict with DeSpain’s record and statements.

“Monique DeSpain is telling voters she would be an independent voice in Congress, despite the fact that she worked as a paid lobbyist in a coalition that fought to take away reproductive rights in Oregon and has admitted that the reason she is running for Congress is to serve as ‘reinforcements’ for extreme politicians like Mike Johnson,” Lawrence said, referring to the U.S. House speaker. “Voters deserve to know where she stands on this critical issue.”

DeSpain has worked as a lobbyist for Common Sense for Oregon, a nonprofit organization founded by state Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem. It’s part of the Oregon Liberty Alliance, a coalition of conservative groups that formed in 2014 in opposition to the state’s leading Republican gathering, the Dorchester Conference, moving toward accepting same-sex marriage and abortion rights. 

Oregonians support abortion access at a higher rate than the national average, statewide surveys have found. In 2022, shortly after the Dobbs decision, the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center found that 72% of respondents said abortion should be legal in most or all cases. 

That polling data makes abortion access a focus for Democratic candidates: state Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Clackamas County Democrat challenging Chavez-DeRemer, also released an ad this week featuring a Portland nurse criticizing Chavez-DeRemer for voting with anti-abortion Republicans in Congress.