A Massachusetts Democrat who suggested that disabled children be aborted will not be removed from his position as chair of a local Democratic committee, according to Fox News.
Reportedly, the Framingham Democratic Committee voted down a motion this week that included removing Michael Hugo as chair. The vote came down 11 in favor of his removal, 16 against, and one who abstained from voting.
As Townhall covered, Hugo said at a recent city council meeting that funds at pro-life pregnancy centers should be redirected because he believes that the centers misdiagnose defects in babies before they are born. As a result, babies with disabilities are brought into the world and become a burden on school budgets.
In a video of the meeting obtained by Fox, Hugo said: “Our fear is that if an unqualified sonographer misdiagnoses a heart defect, an organ defect, spina bifida or an encephalopathic defect, that becomes a very local issue because our school budget will have to absorb the cost of a child in special education, supplying lots and lots of special services to children who were born with the defect."
Members of his party came out publicly against his remarks, with one saying Hugo “went off the rails.”
"They can’t even muster up the courage to have a discussion about whether he should be removed or not," Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said in an interview with Fox News Digital of the group's decision not to remove Hugo. "A group that doesn’t have the moral fortitude to take him out ought to also be unelected."
"Anyone who sets out to target the vulnerable in the community for extinction should not be in any position of leadership anywhere," she added, pointing out that Hugo’s remarks fall in line with the history of abortion advocacy in the United States.
"Usually these attitudes are tapped down and are not allowed to get the megaphone that we’ve just heard. But it’s in the imprint in who the modern abortion movement is, which is the deep roots of eugenics," Dannenfelser said.
As Townhall reported, Hugo issued an apology for his remarks following the backlash.
Laura Green, a disability advocate from Framingham, told Fox News that she felt like his apology was “generic and lackluster.”
“I feel like after a statement like that is made, you can’t just pretend that it didn't happen or take it back because it's damaging to a community of people," she said. "The disability community is the only minority group that you can become a part of at any time."