Van Hollen Refusese to Apologize for 'Homicide' Charge
Republican calls abortion ‘homicide,’ then flip-flops on enforcing Roe v. Wade
Madison, WI – Republican Attorney General candidate JB Van Hollen refused to apologize for his insulting and outrageous statement comparing abortion to ‘homicide.’
At a debate yesterday, Wispolitics.com President Jeff Mayers asked him if “government should be involved in the personal decisions as to whether somebody should have an abortion,” Van Hollen replied,
“You are not going to find me saying that I believe that that is something that should be the choice of an individual any more than I believe that homicide in any other circumstance should be the choice of a specific individual.”
After public outcry, Van Hollen issued a press release attempting to back away from his earlier assertion. Though he failed to issue an apology, he acknowledged that Roe v. Wade is currently the law of the land.
“Van Hollen wants to have it both ways – he says abortion is ‘homicide,’ then says he’ll enforce Roe v. Wade,” said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. “His political flip-flop shows a callous disregard for the health and privacy of Wisconsin’s citizens.”
With President Bush’s nomination of anti-choice activist judge Samuel Alito to take O’Connor’s swing seat on the Supreme Court, the protections of Roe v. Wade could be eviscerated as soon as next summer. Wisconsin has a pre-Roe abortion ban on the books that makes it a felony to terminate a pregnancy or assist a woman in doing so.
“Van Hollen is aligning himself with the most extreme anti-birth control conservatives, trying to make abortion more difficult and dangerous rather than less necessary,” said Roys. “His statements leave no doubt that if Roe’s protections were overturned, he would throw women and doctors behind bars – even incest victims and women with life-threatening complications.”
“At this critical time for medical privacy, Wisconsin women have too much at stake to gamble on whether Van Hollen would imprison medical professionals and patients for seeking needed abortion care.”
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