The retired neurosurgeon has left his Christian conservative allies puzzled and frustrated at times with statements that seem at odds with their seemingly shared beliefs.

Ben Carson has delivered lengthy and strongly worded condemnations of abortion in nearly all circumstances, including rape and incest. The retired neurosurgeon has compared abortion to slavery, talked up his efforts to counsel patients against seeking abortions, praised the activists who produced the controversial series of Planned Parenthood undercover videos and appeared frequently at events sponsored by anti-abortion groups.

Yet not long after Carson told an interviewer Sunday that both sides of the nation’s abortion debate had engaged in “hateful rhetoric,” anti-abortion leaders lashed out at the Republican presidential candidate, who made his remarks in the context of the fatal shootings near a Colorado Planned Parenthood.

Read the article “Carson Scrambles to Patch Up Evangelical Support” on politico.com.