Kansas Legislator Dick Jones Uses Every Abortion Trope in Just One Hearing

For reporters who follow the abortion rights battle, there are a number of statements we often hear from abortion opponents, either in a legislative debate, in front of the clinics we cover, or in letters to the editor bemoaning the continuation of legalized abortion care. Normally, these bombastic, headline-grabbing and emotionally evocative talking points are dolled out in moderation. After all, no one wants to come across as an unhinged extremist while trying to pass legislation or advocate in favor of a ban.

But then there is Kansas State Representative Dick Jones, a Republican from Topeka, Kansas.

On Monday, the state held a hearing on a ban of so-called “dismemberment abortion,” a ban that, if passed, would forbid D&E abortions and eliminate legal abortion almost entirely after 14 weeks gestation, and perhaps earlier. The ban is blatantly and purposefully unconstitutional, creating a situation in which nearly no abortion could be performed after the first trimester and where there would be no exception if a pregnant person’s health is in danger, which would directly violate Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, based on the current leanings of the full legislative body in the state, the bill is likely to pass, as well as be signed into law by anti-abortion Governor Sam Brownback.

With the political makeup of the legislature, the bill should be a fairly easy win for anti-abortion advocates in the state. Despite that, at Monday’s hearing on the bill Rep. Jones offered every talking point ever drafted by an abortion opponent, and all in just a few hours.

According to the Topeka Capital Journal, Jones began by weighing in on his utter disgust for the D&E procedure all together, calling it a “filthy practice.” “I know a rotten egg when I crack it,” he said, according to CJonline. “This is really a filthy practice. Jesus Christ. This is really pathetic.”

Next, he hit up the old standard that if a person is allowed to abort, then why not be allowed to kill his or her young children after they have been born? “Jones said he was struggling to restrain his ‘rage’ and sarcastically suggested any state allowing pregnant women to kill a fetus ought to also permit those women to slay a son or daughter after birth without consequence,” reports CJOnline.

Later, Jones called abortion a “a holocaust against fetuses.” “If that child — and we were talking, just let’s say, move back 70 years — we’re talking about that child being Jewish and should it be aborted by being ripped out like that, I think we’d have a different conversation here,” Jones said, according to the Associated Press.

Finally, apparently unsure if he had made it clear enough that he thought all abortion is absolutely wrong, Jones told reporter post hearing that it would be like killings those who are disabled. “The moment of conception when the finger of life is touched to that fetus, to that egg, it becomes a human being with all the inherent rights. If we look at this in any other fashion, we’re then saying that it’s all right to kill quadriplegics because they’re a burden on society.” (Of course, there is no “finger” and even if there were, a fetus doesn’t exist until much further in pregnancy, but that’s all far too technical for Jones.)

-snip-
Jones may have spun through every trope in rapid fire secession but, unlike the rest of the bill’s backers, at least he was honest. While other anti-abortion advocates claim their interest is in limiting–not eliminating–abortion, or providing for the safety of a pregnant person, Jones makes it clear that he will never be content until all abortion is illegal again.

That sort of extremism is at the very least refreshingly candid.


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Candid, but wholly unrealistic. Nothing will stop abortion, but the self righteous can stop safe ones. Fanatics like Jones completely ignore that fact and are determined to put women's health at risk to feed their delusion.