Pennsylvania State Representative Wendy Ullman (D-Bucks) characterized miscarriages as "just a mess on a napkin," during a debate on the state’s House Bill 1890.
The legislation would mandate that abortion clinics and healthcare centers bury or cremate unborn children after procedures, instead of disposing of the children’s remains like garbage. The very principle of HB 1890 was affirmed as Constitutional by the Supreme Court in May, when the court ruled that Indiana’s fetal burial mandate could stay intact. Justice Clarence Thomas rightfully characterized this provision of the Indiana law as basic human dignity:
"I would have thought it could go without saying that nothing in the Constitution or any decision of this Court prevents a State from requiring abortion facilities to provide for the respectful treatment of human remains," he wrote.
HB 1890 mirrors the language of Indiana’s law, and does not place any restrictions on abortion for women and does not implement any barriers to entry for abortion access. The responsibility is exclusively on the clinics, not women seeking abortion procedures:
“...a healthcare facility that possesses fetal remains shall have the following duties:
(1) Provide for the final disposition of the fetal
remains in accordance with the burial and transit permit
requirements under 28 Pa. Code Ch. 1 (relating to
(administration of vital records).
(2) Cremate or inter the fetal remains,” the bill reads.
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Rep. Ullman did not hold back in expressing her objection to HB 1890 during a PA House Healthcare Committee discussion, per The Daily Wire:
“[House Bill 1890] refers specifically to the product of conception after fertilization, which covers an awful lot of territory,” said the Democratic lawmaker during a House Health Committee meeting. “I think we all understand the concept of the loss of a fetus, but we’re also talking about a woman who comes into a facility and is having cramps and — not to be, not to be, concrete — an early miscarriage is just some mess on a napkin.”
The committee vote was on party lines, with every Democrat objecting to HB 1890.
Tom Sheehan, VP of Policy at Pennsylvania’s Family Council, immediately corrected Ullman’s disturbing comments on Twitter:
Wrong: "An early miscarriage is just some mess on a napkin." - PA State Rep. Wendy Ullman (D-Bucks)
— Pennsylvania Family Council (@PFIpolicy) October 31, 2019
Right: “A miscarriage, no matter how early, does not result in a ‘mess on a napkin’ but the loss of a child. - Tom Shaheen, Vice President for Policy, @PFIpolicy pic.twitter.com/0rj66rpWUe
Abortion has shifted to the center of our political discourse, and has developed into one of the more divisive ideological issues. At one time, Republicans and Democrats embraced similar policy on abortion limitations despite fundamental disagreements. The days of President Bill Clinton’s "Safe, legal and rare," approach to abortion policy are in the rearview mirror of mainstream Democrats. Once viewed as a solemn, difficult decision for a woman to make, abortion is now lauded by mainstream Democrats and far-left interest groups as a positive, and a normal healthcare procedure.
Traditional Democrats, now being run out of Congress by young progressives, would never have dreamt of a bill such as HB 1890 causing controversy. There is immense room for discourse and policy debates on trimester limitations and when exactly life begins, but there is no reason that any lawmaker should object to unborn children receiving the human dignity that they deserve. Ordering clinics to provide the disposition for an unborn child is not an attack on women’s healthcare, nor a restrict to abortion access; HB 1890 rightfully mandates the bare minimum for human dignity.
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