Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) gotten into a tense argument over abortion during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Roe v. Wade.
After claiming several countries such as Canada are freer than America — allegedly due to fewer restrictions on abortion — Cohen compared abortion restrictions to slavery and the Confederacy while calling for the return of abortion regulations to the states following the Dobbs decision a “red herring.”
Johnson defended the U.S. against the Democrat's comments saying that American is “the most free, most successful [and] most powerful nation,” because it protects Americans' right to live.
Calling his colleague's comments “absurd,” Johnson said that American government officials have a constitutional responsibility to “protect the sanctity of human life.”
“This hearing is absurd… the Democrat majority has called us here for this hearing entitled ‘The Threat To Individual Freedoms in a Post-Roe World.’ Come on,” Johnson said.
He continued to argue that the first freedom Americans have is the right to be born.
“The first inalienable, individual freedom is the right to be born, the right to life. We declared that in our nation’s birth certificate. America should continue to uphold the sanctity of human life and state and local and federal governments have a duty, a constitutional responsibility, to protect that fundamental right,” Johnson added.
The pro-life Republican then blasted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (R-MA) for calling on the action to “shut down” crisis pregnancy centers throughout the nation.
“It’s appalling for her to say that," he remarked. "There are 2,700 pregnancy centers all around this country, all 50 states. They’re supported by over 10,000 licensed medical professionals, they annually serve approximately 2 million women and men. I was a legal counselor for many of these pregnancy centers, I can tell you from my own experience they do exceptional, critical work,” Johnson said.
He questioned why anybody would want to shut down facilities that provide counseling, care and comfort for struggling mothers.
Saying it defies logic, he concluded that the left’s “extreme agenda demands it.”