GOP Senate candidate’s wife opens up about her abortion: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the on the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

Today’s edition features an exclusive interview from NBC News senior national political reporter Natasha Korecki with Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown and his wife, plus a breakdown of the deep divisions roiling the GOP from NBC News’ chief political analyst Chuck Todd.

Abortion politics are personal for this GOP Senate candidate

By Natasha Korecki

As Republicans nationally search for their message on abortion, the wife of one of the party’s top U.S. Senate candidates has stepped forward with an intensely personal story: Amy Brown, who is married to Nevada Republican Sam Brown, described in an exclusive interview with NBC News how she had an abortion in 2008, before she met her husband.

“I’m sharing my story today so that I can provide awareness for what it’s like to live in my shoes, for women who have chosen to have abortions. And also just to provide awareness to women … that they can take a break, they can take a minute, they can process and hopefully know that they have options,” Amy Brown said, as she spoke publicly for the first time about her abortion.

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It’s a complicated message: The Browns say there are many reasons they’re sharing her story, including Sam Brown fearing he would be made into a caricature of a Republican who didn’t care about women and their choices. The couple wanted to convey to Nevadans that they understand the position women can face before or after an abortion, even though they support some restrictions