I’ve heard some incredibly callous and ignorant reasons for abortion restrictions in my life, but I do believe a Republican lawmaker in North Carolina has now taken the mantle reserved for the most asinine and thoughtless.
GOP?state Representative Pat McElraft has co-sponsored a bill ?in North Carolina which would triple?the state’s 24-hour waiting period for abortions to 72 hours and would also prohibit doctors at the medical schools of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill or East Carolina University from performing the procedure. Ms. McElraft, in defending the bill, said:
“We are multi-taskers here in the General Assembly. I am absolutely an advocate for jobs, but we can do lots of the things. And actually, when we can have a few more little taxpayers born, why not?”
Why not open your mouth a little wider and see if you can get both feet in there, Pat. One just doesn’t seem sufficient for a comment like that.
McElraft also used her own version of looney logic and claimed the new restrictions on a woman’s right to choose was just a move to reduce the number of procedures in the state, not restrict the right to an abortion. She said–with a straight face–that:
“There’s no effort here to try to restrict a woman’s right to have an abortion. What we’re trying to do is make her care competent.”
Well, in that case, who could possibly be opposed to that? Anyone with the sense God promised a billygoat.
Ms. McElraft wasn’t quite finished spouting out her dreck, however, and she proclaimed:
“There are opportunities for doctors to learn this. Abortion physicians learn from all kinds of training–spontaneous abortions or miscarriages. Sometimes, you learn how to act in an emergency situation.”
Melissa Reed, a vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood, said the longer waiting period is:
?(An) arbitrary delay on a time sensitive procedure. (It ignores) the rigorous training doctors currently undergo for an outpatient procedure.?In reality, these bills have nothing to do with patient safety and are just attempts by politicians to insert their own political agendas into medical care.”
In other words, exactly the same thing the Republican Party has been doing across the country for years. Yet the GOP has the nerve to say there is no war on women. Actions, however, speak louder than words.
