Oregon City woman says candidate paid for abortion
Monday, June 23, 2008 10:52 AM PDT
PORTLAND (AP) — An Oregon City woman says 5th District congressional candidate Mike Erickson, now a pro-life advocate, paid for her abortion in January 2001 after he told her he did not want the baby.
The woman, identified only as Tawnya, now 34, told The Oregonian that she sat with him in his new Mercedes across from an abortion clinic. Erickson agrees he gave her $300 for medical help and a ride to a doctor’s office but says he didn’t know she was pregnant or planning an abortion. He left her there.
Medical records and accounts of two people, one of whom accompanied her to the clinic, contradict Erickson’s version.
Erickson, a Lake Oswego businessman and the Republican candidate for the vacated seat, denies paying for an abortion.
The woman told The Oregonian, ‘‘I was bawling so hard I could hardly speak. He looked so sad. He looked like he cared.’’
She said she asked him if he were sure he didn’t want the baby.
‘‘He shook his head. I opened the door, got out bawling and crossed the street and walked up to the clinic,’’ she related.
Erickson, 45 and single, told the newspaper that he dated her for a couple of months but remembers few details about their relationship.
The charge that he provided the woman with the money damaged his primary campaign and could be an issue in November when he faces Oregon Sen. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, for the seat vacated by Democrat Darlene Hooley.
His opponent in the primary, Kevin Mannix, revealed the issue to voters in mass mailings just before the voting deadline, and without Tawnya’s knowledge or consent.
She said she was reluctant to agree to release her version of the story.
‘‘I was just sick to my stomach watching him being interviewed on the news and completely lying about everything,’’ she said.
She requested her medical records from the Bours Health Center in Northeast Portland showing an abortion was performed Jan. 30 of 2001 for $300.
She was a single mom at the time earning $13.77 an hour at a Milwaukie warehouse.
Erickson was prospering as president of AMFS, which advises companies on how to cut shipping costs.
They met at Mount Angel’s Octoberfest in 2000. His business card impressed her so she called him. They spent time on his houseboat playing hide-and-seek with her daughter.
She said she told him she was pregnant but that he did not insist on an abortion. But she said he told her he would not marry her and that she did not want to raise another child on her own.
A friend, Kristi Oetken, held her hand during the procedure and drove her home. Oetken said she called Erickson and left him a scathing voice mail.
