"I'm asking, why isn't abortion good for your girlfriend? Bad for other women? That's my question."
Colorado congressional candidate and sitting State Rep. Richard Holtorf (R) received a tough grilling this week at the hands of local 9News anchor Kyle Clark over his apparent hypocrisy when it comes to abortion rights.
Holtorf made headlines back in January when he defended paying for his girlfriend’s abortion, despite being an adamant pro-life lawmaker and abortion critic. “Anti-abortion GOP lawmaker praises the impact of the abortion he paid for,” read the headline of a local report by Clark from the beginning of the year.
To his credit, Holtorf sat down with Clark to discuss the issue.
“And I have. And I’m a pro-life person. I think you should try to choose life every time. But there are exceptions. And there are times when you need abortion. Abortion is a medical procedure,” declared Holtorf.
“Is one of the exceptions when Richard Holtorf is the father?” Clark demanded.
It's surprising how often "pro-life" people turn out to be pro-choice when pressed a little on the realities of people's lives. They seem to maintain the pro-life stance only through a refusal to think about difficult situations - which makes no sense since the whole debate is precisely about difficult situations.
And they commonly just don't seem to understand what pro-choice means. They think it means being someone who just loves abortions and thinks they're great and unproblematic and everyone should get one. They don't realize there are no such people, because they've never actually asked and listened, or given it any thought.
This quote pissed me off. I'm fucking pro choice AF and this to me just says this interview wasn't anything but to make him feel and look stupid and strengthen identity politics. It is gross. A real thoughtful response would have GRASPED onto that admittance that it is a medical procedure and point out how the law has hindered necessary medical treatment for fear of courts deeming it "illegal" because now politicians with power and monetary motivations get to decide what is medically necessary and not anyone with education in medicine or science even.
Grab those "liberal" threads they tried to deny is reality and pull it to the forefront don't just butt heads with stupid fucking onelines that could make a headline.
Sound bytes are more valuable to the journalists employer than all that full story nonsense. Why don't they realize true revolution and change would generate far more income and viewership than this bullshit ?
Holtorf: That's just a story. What's more important is the policy.
The policy is the whole fucking problem! His hypocrisy is an issue because, even with a complete lack of any ability to empathize with different people in different circumstances (which I assume as a default from right-wingers), he ought to understand this situation because it did happen to him. Yet he just doesn't care. Christ, what an asshole.