On Wednesday, Alabama State Rep. John Rodgers made quite the disturbing remarks while speaking out against an abortion bill up for consideration in his state. By Thursday, these remarks had gone viral.
“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later," he said. "You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later."
He also mentioned that he “may bring a bill to force all men to have vasectomies. That would end this whole debate. There would be no more abortions and eventually no more voters.” How very pro-choice of him.
As if such language wasn’t offensive enough, he pointed out that “some parents can’t handle a child with problems,” and then referred to said child as “it”, in that “it could be retarded.”
On its face, the bill might be considered overly strict in that it bans abortions except for serious health of the mother, and would make it a Class C felony for an abortionist to perform the procedure. Rodgers distracted from that with his comments, though. The story is no longer about the merits of the bill, likely to be found unconstitutional by the courts, which passed the Alabama House 74-3, but about Rodgers’ comments.
Rep. Rodgers still had more to say, however. He doubled down on his remarks on Thursday, with a video surfacing of him calling out Donald Trump Jr., who had tweeted that Rodger’s words were “stomach curling.” Of the president’s 41-year old son, Rodgers said that “I know there’s something wrong with that boy,” and referred to him as “the best defense I got for abortion–right there looking at him. His mother should’ve aborted him when he was born or he wouldn’t have made that stupid comment, right?”
Advocating abortions because someone makes what another person deems to be a “stupid comment?” Yikes, that’s not a very good threshold.
The disturbing nature of such comments lies not only in the bluntness and outdated, offensive terms, but because they reveal honesty about how abortion “kill[s]” a child because he or she might be deemed “unwanted” or have a disability. The abortion industry, led by Planned Parenthood, advocates for abortions for any or no reason and opposes virtually any kind of restriction or regulation. So, it’s hardly surprising that Planned Parenthood remained silent on Twitter over Rep. Rodgers’ comments.
U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama tweeted it was “an abomination” that U.S. Senator Doug Jones didn’t respond right away, though Jones eventually tweeted a condemnation of Rodgers, which included a clip of his subsequent comments about Donald Trump Jr.
The Hill also updated their reporting to include a statement from his spokesperson, Caroline Stonecipher. In part the statement mentioned that “one of the problems with discussing these types of issues, people get emotional and people tend not to respect each other’s opinions as much, and you end up with comments like this.”
Sen. Jones’ tweet condemning Rodgers, a former client of his, is to be commended. But his outlandish remarks are not a matter of how “people get emotional.” And, it seems to be only one side in this case of how “people tend not to respect each other’s opinions as much.” Jones may have ultimately put his foot in his mouth on this one.
I say it’s one side because Rodgers is not the only Democrat to make outrageous, albeit honest, statements on abortion. Earlier this year a bill which ultimately failed in committee was being considered in Virginia to relax state laws on late-term abortions. The bill’s Democratic sponsor, Del. Kathy Tran, answered when asked if abortion would be permitted when it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth… has physical signs that she’s about to give birth” and is “dilating,” that her “bill would allow that.”
The state’s disgraced but still serving Governor Ralph Northam on a radio program said about babies born alive from failed late-term abortions that “the infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.” Emphasis is added.
Democrats on the national stage largely ignored Northam’s comments. It wasn’t until later that week a picture from his medical school yearbook he was in, with one man in blackface and another wearing a KKK hood, that calls came for him to resign.
It’s not very surprising then that Democrats would ignore Rep. Rodgers’ comments. It’s still disappointing, though, and worth wondering when, if ever, Democrats will have to answer for their offensive abortion extremism.
Rep. Rodgers’ comments were objectively offensive and would be regardless of the political party of the one who made them. But, because Rep. Rodgers is a Democratic, he gets a pass. In fact, to some media outlets, namely The Hill, the story wasn’t so much about the outrageous remarks as it was about how “Republicans pounced,” complete with a featured image not of the state representative in question, but of Donald Trump Jr.
Again, if a Republican made such statements, they would still be objectively wrong. But we all know the media reaction would be quite different. Could you just imagine if a Republican state representative called Sasha or Malia Obama “the best defense… for abortion,” or Chelsea Clinton? He would be chased out of office, and rightfully so. It’s a shame Democrats are not held to the same standards on decency.
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