Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi Exposes Hypocrisy Of Anti-Choice Activists In Questioning Of Witness In Oversight Committee Hearing
WASHINGTON – In today's hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi exposed the hypocrisy around the constitutionally-protected right to choose among anti-choice activists through his questioning of Dr. Ingrid Skop. In previous proceedings before the Texas State Legislature, Dr. Skop had testified in support of measures drastically curtailing the right to choose and during the day's hearing, Congressman Krishnamoorthi focused on Texas's radically anti-choice SB8, the nation's most brutal attack on reproductive rights in half a century which does not even provide an exception for victims of rape and incest. Discussing his fears of his own daughter being sexually assaulted, Congressman Krishnamoorthi questioned Dr. Skop as to whether she believed that her own daughter should be forced to carry a pregnancy resulting from rape to term. Dr. Skop repeatedly declined to directly answer the Congressman's question, answering evasively, and refusing to admit she would not want her own daughter denied the right to choose by SB8 following such an assault while also refusing to say her daughter should be denied the right to make her own choice in the event of such a tragedy.
"The Texas law we discussed today, SB8, is the most extreme attack on the constitutional right to choose in generations, without even an exception for victims of rape or incest," said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. "My exchange with Dr. Skop today served as a clear reminder that the advocates of these brutal attacks on the reproductive rights of women often only support them only so long as they're not applied to their own families. While this hypocrisy is a disgraceful reminder of the tragic gap between grandstanding of anti-choice politicians and the rights they would reserve for their own families, it pales in comparison to the tragedy of the actual suffering of women under SB8 and similar attempts to strip women of their constitutionally-protected right to choose."
An excerpt of the key portion of their exchange follows below and footage of Congressman Krishnamoorthi's full question line is available here.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: I read the whole text of SB8, and in here, it does not have an exception, even in the case of rape, correct?
Dr. Skop: That's probably correct.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: And it doesn't have an exception even in the case of incest, right?
Dr. Skop: That is correct.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: Now my wife and I have a daughter, Dr. Skop, and one of our greatest fears in life is that she would be sexually assaulted or raped. Now I understand that you have a daughter, right?
Dr. Skop: I do have a daughter.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: If, god forbid, your daughter were raped, do you believe that your daughter should be forced to carry the fetus to term?
Dr. Skop: In the event – and I just want to say for the record, that the stories that I've heard from women today of their abortions make me very sad. I feel for every woman who's been through that horrendous situation and had to make that horrendous decision. I am working for a world where women never have to address that decision. But I would say that, in the case of a rape, women generally know that they've been raped and a woman can find out she is pregnant—
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: I'm just asking you a simple question, Dr. Skop, in the case – even after a detectable fetal heartbeat under SB8, were your daughter raped, would you believe that she should be forced to carry the baby to term as required by SB8?
Dr. Skop: SB8 gives enough time for a woman who knows that she's been raped to determine—
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: No, I'm asking you the case after a detectable fetal heartbeat. After the detectable fetal heartbeat you – I'm just asking you a very simple question – at that point, is it your testimony that you believe your daughter should be forced to carry the baby to term, even in the case of rape.
Dr. Skop: If my daughter were pregnant as a result of rape, that would be extraordinarily sad, and I think that is evidence of the broken world that we are living in.
Congressman Krishnamoorthi: Ma'am, you don't want to answer the question, you're being evasive, and this is the hypocrisy that characterizes people like you having an opinion as to how you would treat your own daughter but forcing other daughters and sisters and women in the state of Texas to go through a wholly, entirely different experience.