A high-profile Republican candidate for the US Senate, standing on a strongly anti-abortion platform, faces claims from a second woman that he paid for her to have a termination.

The former American football star, Herschel Walker, hopes to unseat the Democratic incumbent in Georgia in the mid-term elections next month.

The latest accuser called him "a hypocrite" unfit to be a US senator.

The ex-NFL star has denied both claims, calling the latest one "foolishness".

Mr Walker, who has the backing of former US President Donald Trump, is running neck and neck with Democrat Raphael Warnock in November's mid-term race.

The second woman spoke anonymously to reporters over Zoom, saying Mr Walker pressured her into ending her pregnancy. Neither woman has revealed her identity publicly.

The woman, who is being named by her lawyer only as "Jane Doe", told reporters on Wednesday that she had a years-long relationship with Mr Walker while he was married and that he had driven her to a clinic.

She did not appear on camera during the virtual news conference in Los Angeles.

"He has publicly taken the position that he is about life and against abortion under any circumstance, when in fact he pressured me to have an abortion and personally ensured that it occurred by driving me to the clinic and paying for it," she said.

Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, cited exhibits including alleged love letters, a 1992 voicemail and a hotel receipt that she said proved the two had a relationship in the late 1980s and 1990s. The BBC has not inspected the purported evidence.

Speaking at a campaign event in Dillard, Georgia, just before the news conference, Mr Walker - who has staked out a strong anti-abortion stance - called the latest accusation a "lie".

"I'm done with this foolishness," he said. "I already told people this is a lie, and I'm not going to entertain, continue, to carry a lie along."

"And I also want to let you know that I didn't kill JFK either," he joked, accusing the Democrats of political dirty tricks against him.

The new accuser, who says she is an independent voter that supported Donald Trump, said she became pregnant in 1993 by Mr Walker while he was playing for the Dallas Cowboys.

She said Mr Walker "encouraged" and gave her money to have an abortion, but after she became emotional on her first visit to the clinic to complete the procedure, he returned with her the following day and "waited for hours in the parking lot until I came out".

"I was devastated because I felt like I was pressured into having the abortion," she said.

Earlier this month, Mr Walker denied a claim from another anonymous woman that he had pressured her and paid for her to get an abortion in 2009.

Mr Walker is challenging the incumbent, Mr Warnock, a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta who supports abortion. The extremely close race could determine which party controls the US Senate after next month's elections.

Warnock campaign spokeswoman Rachel Petri said in a statement on Wednesday: "Today's new report is just the latest example of a troubling pattern we have seen play out again and again and again."

Mr Warnock has himself been assailed over reports his church was evicting low-income tenants from apartments it owns, and that he ran over his ex-wife's foot in a car during a domestic dispute.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC NEWS

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