Jane Doe — the unnamed woman who came forward in late October alleging that in 1993 Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R) pressured her to get an abortion — is challenging Walker to meet her in person before Georgia’s runoff election, which is scheduled for Dec. 6.
“Do you have the guts to meet with me in person in public, look me in the eye, and tell me to my face that you don’t know me and that none of what I said is true? I’m looking forward to your response,” the woman said in an opening statement at a Tuesday press conference with her attorney, high profile lawyer Gloria Allred.
While she remains unnamed, the woman revealed herself publicly for the first time Tuesday.
“Today, I come forward because when I came forward before and told the truth, he denied that he knew that I existed,” she added later in the press conference.
Walker denied the allegations after the unnamed woman came forward last month alleging that Walker forced her to have an abortion she didn’t want almost two decades ago. In October, Walker said the accusations were a lie: “I’m done with this foolishness. I’ve already told people this is a lie, and I’m not going to entertain, continue to carry a lie along.”
At Tuesday’s press conference Allred presented new evidence that she said corroborated the woman’s allegations of a years-long relationship with Walker. Allred played a voicemail, allegedly from Walker, and a recording of a phone call allegedly between Walker and the woman that took place in 1992, Allred said. In the phone call recording, the two, allegedly Walker and the woman, are heard saying they love each other.
After the woman became pregnant in 1993, Walker was upset about the woman wanting to keep the child, Allred said, and allegedly spoke about “disappearing” and “the afterlife” and “made her believe that he might commit suicide.”
Earlier this year, the woman accused Walker of pressuring her to get an abortion and giving her cash to pay for it. “[Walker] was very clear that he did not want me to have the child,” Doe said in an interview with ABC News. “And he said that because of his wife’s family and powerful people around him that I would not be safe and that the child would not be safe.”
Allegations of abusive and threatening behavior have followed Walker for years, and new allegations of similar behavior have surfaced throughout his Senate campaign. Allred’s client was the second woman to come forward claiming that Walker paid partners to have abortions in the past — despite his professed staunch opposition to the procedure.
Just weeks before Allred’s came forward, an unidentified woman — who said she became pregnant in 2009 while dating Walker — said that Walker asked her to get an abortion, the Daily Beast was first to report. And Cindy Grossman — Walker’s ex-wife — has long claimed Walker was abusive and threatened to kill her while they were married, and has alleged Walker held a razor to her throat and, in a separate instance, a gun to her temple.
Walker is locked in a tight runoff race and will face off against Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock for a second time on Dec. 6.
Watch the full press conference here.
