During the 11 a.m. hour on MSNBC hosted by Thomas Roberts, Texas Democratic Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee warned of a worst case scenario if a bill proposed by Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks to put limitations on sex-selective abortions is signed into law.
Jackson Lee said that, despite “unanimous support” against these sort of abortions, women would be physically removed from clinics if Frank’s proposed law were to be put into effect.
“I think the next act will be dragging women out of patient rooms into the streets and screaming over their bodies as they get dragged out of getting access to women’s health care,” she said. “That’s what I feel like is occurring today with the legislation that is on the floor. Thomas, first of all, there is bipartisan and unilateral and unanimous support that we should not have agenda-based abortions for the sake of getting one gender over another. That’s a human, humane and humanitarian issue that none of us quarrel with.”
Jackson Lee explained her opposition stems from what she sees as the bill’s the invasion of privacy, and called the legislation “Draconian.”
“This bill is a direct intrusion into the relationship between patient and physician. We realize that there is a suggestion that cultures around the world do this, but in order to change those cultures, this legislation will not work,” she said. “What you really need is an affirmation of the value of women, and today PRENDA [Prenatal Non-discrimation Act] is an affirmation of the devaluing of woman because what it does is demonizes the physician and the woman, particularly here in the United States.”
“And it suggests, it puts on them the idea that they’re going go in and have an abortion for a dastardly reason other than the choice and the personal need and the faith conversation and medical needs of that particular patient. This is a Draconian, drastic initiative and, frankly, it should go down today.”
She went on to say such legislation is a slippery slope and opens the doors to invasions of privacy.
“But I cannot find in anyway this bill any legitimacy by criminalizing, incarcerating doctors,” she added. “We’re going back to the days of coat hangers. That’s what they want to do — they want to criminalize doctors because what that says is how do you know that a doctor is engaged in helping a woman abort because of the particular gender of the fetus?”
