GOP Lawmaker Makes Absurd Abortion Comparison

Election season is well and truly over, but that’s not stopping some in the Republican Party from continuing their campaign of saying crazy misogynist things showing how out of touch they are with issues pertaining to women and their bodies.

The latest examples comes to us courtesy of Idaho Rep. Ron Mendive, who thinks abortion and prostitution are basically the same thing. At an American Civil Liberties Union legislative breakfast presentation in Boise on Wednesday, Mendive thought provokingly asked ACLU of Idaho Executive Director Monica Hopkins if she supported prostitution, since the organization is pro-choice. You see, in Mendive’s warped mind, the two are practically the same thing because becoming a prostitute is also a “woman’s choice.”

Mendive’s question drew audible gasps from the audience, so we can at least assume that many in attendance immediately realized how ridiculous it is to compare something that’s perfectly legal in the U.S. with something that is outlawed in most parts of the country.

Here’s the Idaho lawmaker’s Einstein-like (in his own mind) logic on the comparison:

I think that there’s kind of a double standard. With abortion there are two beating hearts, and prostitution, there’s just one. If a woman were going to make a choice to be a prostitute, that’s her decision as to what to do with her body.

A GOP pollster recently suggested that it was time for Republicans to stop talking about rape, given all the incendiary things they said about it during the 2012 campaign (ahem, legitimate rape). But maybe it’s time for Republicans to just stop talking about anything that involves women’s bodies. That could prove difficult, however, since lady parts seem to be a popular topic of conversation within the party.

The Spokesman-Review:

This incident marks the second time in a year in which an Idaho lawmaker has gained national attention from comments he’s made about abortion. Sen. Chuck Winder, of Boise, the Senate assistant majority leader, made comments during the 2012 session in debate over a bill to require a woman to get an ultrasound before an abortion.

“I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by a rape,” Winder told the Senate last March.

Winder later said he was misunderstood and never meant to cast doubt on the truthfulness of a woman’s claim of rape.

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— Posted by Tracy Bloom.