The Democratic Party cannot stand that the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Texas abortion law that bans most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, at around six weeks, which is why they have had multiple Congressional hearings to deride the law. At a House Oversight hearing last month, three Democratic congresswomen shared testimonies of how they have had abortions. One, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) is making headlines for this hearing as well, due to an exchange with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).
During Thursday's hearing of "The Texas Abortion Ban and its Devastating Impact on Communities and Families" with the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Roy made an impassioned speech seeking to highlight the humanity of the unborn.
"One word that has consistently been missing from [Democrats] today is 'heartbeat'"
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) November 5, 2021
"What we're talking about here is saying that, if there's a heartbeat, that we do everything we can to protect that living being"
More from Rep. Roy on Texas' lifesaving heartbeat law: pic.twitter.com/6Tu1nEDN2v
Rep. Roy emphasized that abortion advocates "will not want to, have not wanted to, talk about the heartbeat, because they know it undermines their position."
While the Texas law is known as the "Texas Heartbeat Act," many abortion advocates cannot bring themselves to humanize unborn children in such a way as to acknowledge they have heartbeats, and so will go out of their way to only refer to the legislation as "SB 8." As I've also underscored in the past, others will not use the term "fetal heartbeat," either, and will instead use terms such as "cardiac activity."
Yet Rep. Jayapal went on to play a word game of her own. Roy did not call refer to abortion as "murder" or call post-abortive women, like Jayapal, "murderers." The congresswoman nevertheless fixated on that word.
.@RepJayapal: "We make choices that are our choices. Nobody knows the circumstances we go through. Nobody understands what we have to think about…I would like to leave protecting my health to my doctor and to me.” pic.twitter.com/P8nW7Log7P
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) November 5, 2021
"And I also am very offended by the idea that anybody on your side would call me a murderer for making a choice about my health and my body that you cannot even begin to understand or know what I was dealing with. So please, do not be paternalistic towards us as we make choices that are our choices," she said in her remarks.
Given I did not mention “murder,” it begs the question - why did my prediction ?@RepJayapal? would refuse to focus on a baby’s heartbeat trigger her conscience to call it murder? #HeartbeatBill https://t.co/U8sWMf9mMi
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) November 5, 2021
The congressman responded over Twitter linking to a BizPacReview article on the exchange by Chris Donaldson, who highlighted Jayapal's hypocrisy on the 'my body my choice' narrative, considering she is supportive of vaccine mandates. He noted that he himself did not say "murder" or call her "a murderer."
Reps. Roy and Jayapal also got into it with each other over a matter of constitutionality. Roy stressed that the people of Texas have decided on this law. Jayapal, however, went with reading a right to abortion into the constitution, which the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 found to be in the 14th amendment, as a matter of a right of privacy.
“So, you know Mr. Roy, you’re right. We have different starting places. I start with the Constitution. I start with the Constitution and I start with the constitutional right that I have to make choices about my own body.” Jayapal had said at the beginning of her remarks.
The congressman noted that the abortion rate dramatically decreased in Texas, since the law has gone into effect. Madeline recently reported that it decreased by half.