Philly Inquirer Exposes Mehmet Oz’s History of Leftist Positions on Abortion, Guns

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 19: Dr. Mehmet Oz, Professor of Surgery at Columbia University sp
Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit
Ashley Oliver

Southeastern Pennsylvania’s largest newspaper published a brutal report Tuesday chronicling examples of how Dr. Mehmet Oz’s past political positions conflict with views he currently promotes as he campaigns for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s report, which comes less than one month before the May 17 Republican primary, detailed some of Oz’s past comments and writings about topics including abortion and gun ownership that align more closely with Democrats’ viewpoints than Republicans’.

The outlet observed that on the topic of abortion, Oz, who identifies as pro-life, told the National Review of Medicine in 2008 that he was “not socially conservative” and discouraged “creating obstacles during the difficult time that women have when trying to terminate a pregnancy.”

A portion of Oz’s 2008 comment on abortion reads:

I’m not socially conservative. I don’t believe that we should be intruding into the private lives of homosexuals and we should not be creating obstacles during the difficult time that women have when trying to terminate a pregnancy. I believe we should make it as easy as possible for women to carry a child to term and give it up for adoption. Today’s climate makes it difficult for women to do what’s best for them and their fetus.

Breitbart News reported on additional instances of Oz, a well-known celebrity surgeon, speaking about abortion that illustrate the Pennsylvania Senate candidate’s inconsistency on the issue.

Oz in a 2019 Breakfast Club interview criticized the logic behind “heartbeat” bills, which multiple states have adopted to ban abortions after six weeks, the earliest point at which some say a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

Oz rejected the notion of a heartbeat being present at six weeks, saying during the interview, “If you’re going to define life by a beating heart, then make it a beating heart, not little electrical exchanges in the cell that no one would hear or think about as a heart.”

The aspiring lawmaker clarified that on a “personal level,” he would not support his family members having an abortion but that he would not “want to interfere with everyone else’s stuff.”

Later, in December 2021, Fox News host Will Cain challenged Oz on abortion, asking when he believes a baby’s life begins and also where he thinks lawmakers should “draw the line” on when abortion should be legal. Oz was unable to provide a definitive timeframe for either question, only stating that life begins “when you’re in the mother’s womb.”

The Inquirer’s report from Tuesday also pointed to Oz’s past takes on gun control.

Oz, as host of his famous eponymous television show, promoted guests who presented an idealistic vision of “red flag” gun control laws in 2019. Columns Oz coauthored over the past decade with Dr. Michael Roizen advocated for federal gun restrictions, warned against states with “lenient gun regulations,” and urged that Americans have “less access to guns (that aren’t designed for hunting).”

The columns, in particular, have been a source of controversy, as Oz and Roizen say Oz had no part in writing their columns after 2009 despite Oz’s track record of periodically touting them as his own over the past decade. The pair have also said Roizen was supposed to specify in the columns when the two disagreed.

“There are instances where that unfortunately did not happen,” Oz’s campaign told the Inquirer. The outlet noted, “Neither the campaign nor Roizen, however, specified on which issues the two diverged.”

The report also delves into Oz’s new take on fracking — from once warning that it could have negative health effects to encouraging it — in a state in which tens of thousands of jobs exist in the natural gas industry.

Oz, a current frontrunner in the Pennsylvania primary, recently earned the highly sought-after endorsement of former President Donald Trump and is also being elevated by Fox News’s Sean Hannity.

Oz’s top opponent, businessman David McCormick, has however been leading in most polls. Several other primary candidates are trailing behind the two in polling numbers, while many voters appear undecided on their preferred candidate.

McCormick shared the Inquirer’s story on Tuesday, contending that Oz is not a conservative and that “Pennsylvanians cannot trust him to uphold our values.”

Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.

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