Zeldin vows he won't mess with abortion rights if elected. Democrats aren't buying it.

ALBANY, N.Y. — In campaign ads, Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly ripped Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin's opposition to abortion, making it perhaps her most regular attack against her foe.

"I’m terrified Lee Zeldin could become governor," Dr. Katharine Morris, an OB-GYN in Manhattan, says in one Hochul ad. "He’s supported abortion bans so cruel — they include no exceptions for rape or incest."

Now he's pushing back against Hochul's campaign message, as abortion rights loom large in races across the nation in the wake of the Supreme Court's June decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Zeldin is vowing to leave abortion laws untouched if he's elected governor Nov. 8.

"The abortion law in New York, which was passed a few years ago, codified far more than Roe," Zeldin told reporters Friday in Albany. "When we woke up the day after the [Supreme Court] decision, the law in New York was exactly the same as it was the day before. Nothing changed, and I’m not going to change it."

New York has among the strongest abortion rights in the country, even before the high court ruling, and Hochul pushed for more after the decision. A 2019 law under her predecessor codified Roe into state law. And before SCOTUS ruled in June, Hochul and the Legislature passed lawsthat included making the state a safe haven for those who came her from out of state seeking an abortion. Then in July, lawmakers took the first vote to get abortion rights codified in the state constitution.

Hochul supporters jumped on Zeldin's latest abortion comments, which also included a new ad Friday that says: "I will not change and could not change New York’s abortion law. Hochul already knows that, yet she tried to deceive you anyhow."

"Given his pledges to anti-choice supporters to deny funding for Planned Parenthood, as well as reaffirming his support for abortion bans without exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother, we know where Lee Zeldin stands," said Christine Quinn, the former New York City Council speaker and a leader of the state Democratic committee, in a statement.

New York voters have not elected a Republican to statewide office in 20 years — when then-Gov. George Pataki won a third term as a pro-abortion rights governor. And the state has become significantly more blue since then.

Democrats warned that Zeldin, who landed ex-President Donald Trump's endorsement Sunday after ardently supporting the former president, would have plenty of opportunities to impact abortion rights in the state — even if he couldn't overturn laws passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

Zeldin could try to limit funding for abortion-rights programs, which Hochul has bolstered this year to help abortion clinics with an increase in cases from other states, Democrats said. In May, Zeldin told a anti-abortion rights group that it would be a “a great idea” to appoint a “pro-life” health commissioner.

Zeldin could also try to administratively restrict contraceptive coverage through the state Department of Financial Services, which oversees insurers, said Assemblymember Deborah Glick (D-Manhattan), who helped lead the push for the Reproductive Health Act in 2019 that strengthened New York laws.

"There’s a dozen ways a governor in an executive position can influence rulemaking," Glick said Monday.

Zeldin indicated that other issues are higher priorities for voters on Election Day, particularly the state's problems with crime and high cost of living.

"Kathy Hochul knows the more you focus on her record, rising crime, pay-to-play corruption, higher cost of living, the less you’ll want her as governor. So she needs to change the subject," Zeldin says in the latest ad.

A Siena College poll last month ranked abortion fifth among voters' concerns — behind the economy, threats to democracy, crime and gun policies. But around the country, Democrats are hopeful that supporters of abortion rights will come out to vote, a position Hochul is also staking out.

Democrats point to Zeldin's history as a Long Island congressman of voting against abortion rights, saying he is simply joining other conservative Republicans in trying to distance themselves from the abortion fight ahead of the elections. He filled out a questionnaire this month from the Long Island Coalition for Life in which he said he would vote against taxpayer funding for abortion and deny funding for Planned Parenthood.

Zeldin has voted in favor of 20-week abortion bans, and he opposedthe Women’s Health Protection Act, which narrowly passed the Democratic-led House in July, but ultimately failed in the closely divided Senate.

Still, Zeldin told reporters Friday that while he is pledging to issue an emergency order to address crime, he would not issue any orders on abortion rights.