MONTGOMERY, Alabama, May 2, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – An Alabama Democrat is under national fire for an argument he made during the debate over a bill to criminalize abortion, which conceded that abortion “kills kids” yet justified it all the same.
The Alabama House of Representatives voted 74-3 Tuesday to pass the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, which bans abortion for any reason other than to “avert (a mother’s) death or to avert serious risk of substantial physical impairment of a major bodily function.”
Republicans such as state Rep. Terri Collins argued that “passage of this bill will reflect the conservative beliefs, principles, and desires of the citizens of Alabama while, at the same time, providing a vehicle to revisit the constitutionally-flawed Roe v. Wade decision.”
During the debate over the bill, Democrat state Rep. John Rogers said he wasn’t “about to be a male telling a woman what to do with her body,” which is a standard pro-abortion talking point, but soon moved on to a more candid description of what he supports.
“Some kids are unwanted, so you kill 'em now or kill 'em later,” he said. “You bring 'em in the world unwanted, unloved, then send them to the electric chair. So you kill 'em now or kill 'em later. But the bottom line is, I think we shouldn’t be making this decision.” (There were 25 executions in the United States in 2018 and 1,493 since 1976, whereas the National Right to Life Committee estimates there were more than 900,000 abortions in 2018.)
Alabama State Rep. John Rogers (D) on abortion: “Some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later. You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later” pic.twitter.com/dxPg6X759h
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 1, 2019
“Some parents can’t handle a child with problems,” Rogers added, according to Alabama Political Reporter. “It could be retarded. It might have no arms and no legs.” APR noted that Rogers identifies as a “personally pro-life” Catholic.
“Representative Rogers’ remarks are chilling” and “should be condemned at the state and national level,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed responded in a statement. “Every human life, no matter how weak or small, has inherent dignity because we are all made in the image of God.”
In a follow-up interview on Thursday, Rogers insisted he is “very much against abortion” but “can’t force my belief on nobody else,” and claimed his comments were an attempt to highlight the supposed double-standards of pro-lifers when it comes to valuing life.
“We have a state that’s not taken Medicaid expansion,” he said. “We’ve got a state that’s saying that you’ve got to be drug-tested before you get food stamps (…) Two murders a day in prison. And yet we still want to talk about abortion.”
Numerous pro-life and conservative voices responded with shock and disgust, as well as appreciation for an officeholder admitting what pro-lifers have long accused the abortion lobby of really believing beneath their standard rhetoric:
Evil? Yes
Why there’s a Hell? Sadly, yes
Deserving of rebuke? CertainlyBut this is also the truth of what lies at the heart of darkness that has driven the child killing industry from the beginning. Spread this everywhere. Make all your pro-choice friends see it. https://t.co/Q8sb713HZv
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) May 1, 2019
No pro-abort will disavow this man's words because they fundamentally agree with him.
— American Life League (@AmerLifeLeague) May 2, 2019
My adopted friends, would beg to differ. Last I checked they were more than happy to be alive and adopted into loving families…and not cut up into pieces and left in a trash can.
Explain to me again why Democrats think they’re so morally superior over the rest of us?
— Mindy Robinson ���� (@iheartmindy) May 2, 2019
This is stomach curling and makes Ralph Northam look like a moderate on abortion.
Every Democrat running for President needs to be asked where they stand on this. The extreme turn we've seen from Dems on abortion recently is truly sickening. https://t.co/KchZfqvQMK
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 1, 2019
It’s an abomination that Alabama has a Senator in @DougJones who is unabashedly pro-abortion & refuses to stand up to this type of extremism from members of his party in defense of innocent human life.
Alabama deserves a 100% pro-life voice representing us in the US Senate. https://t.co/Mpz5EbXhaI
— Bradley Byrne (@BradleyByrne) May 2, 2019
John Rogers, the rambling, unintelligible psychopath who said we have to kill kids now or kill them later, has been in office in Alabama since 1982. A literal crazy person has managed to stay in office for 37 years. Somehow I do not find this fact in the least bit surprising.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) May 2, 2019
A version of the abortion ban is currently pending in the state Senate. Alabama Republicans also hold an overwhelming majority there, but Republican Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said he has a “little bit of a problem” with abortion legislation that doesn’t contain rape or incest exceptions.
A spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Kay Ivey declined to tell CNN whether the governor intends to sign the bill. But if some version does manage to become law, the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alabama has announced its intentions to sue.