GOP Rep. Mike Lawler raises money for radical anti-abortion group

New York Rep. Mike Lawler spent the weekend raising money for a radical anti-abortion group, breaking a campaign pledge to take a “mainstream position” on reproductive rights.

Lawler posted photos from the 39th Annual Love Life Fundraising Banquet on his social media accounts on Oct. 20. The event was a benefit for the Care Net Pregnancy Center of Rockland, which is in Lawler’s district.

Pregnancy centers, sometimes called crisis pregnancy centers, are nonprofits that try to dissuade women from having abortions, often by spreading medical disinformation. Critics say these centers pose as legitimate health care providers to lure in vulnerable people.

“Most anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers are not licensed as medical clinics,” Planned Parenthood reports. “Workers and volunteers often give the impression of being medical providers by wearing white coats, talking to clients in a private area with an examination table, and collecting health information; however, they often have no medical training.”

Lawler attended the same fundraiser in October 2023, where he posed for a photo with the center’s executive director.

A few months later, Lawler voted for the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, which would have prohibited states from limiting the federal funds available to pregnancy centers. It passed the Republican-controlled House but was blocked in the Democratic-led Senate.

Lawler dedicated an entire page of his 2024 campaign website to his so-called “mainstream position” on abortion rights, underscoring the risk the issue posed to his reelection. The page made several promises, including a pledge to “ensure access to contraception.”

The Care Net Pregnancy Center of Rockland website, however, includes a page disparaging emergency contraception, commonly known as Plan B. The center describes the drug as an “abortifacient,” a characterization overwhelmingly rejected by the medical community.

Love Life, the group that organized the fundraiser, has explicitly called for defunding Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide array of health care services, including providing contraception at little or no cost.

Lawler is running for a third term next year, and abortion is once again expected to be a major issue in the race.

“Mike Lawler has spent his entire career attacking reproductive freedom,” said DCCC spokesperson Riya Vashi. “Lawler can’t hide the reality of his anti-choice extremism, and it won’t bode well for him come 2026.”