In the News

Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) left an abortion advocate speechless on Wednesday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing when he pressed her for a distinction between killing a child and an unborn baby.

The Republican lawmaker pointed his line of questioning to Aimee Arrambide, executive director of Avow, an abortion rights organization, since she testified that she is “unapologetic in seeking unrestricted abortion access.”

Specifically, Johnson wanted to know at what point does it become unacceptable to abort a child.

After pushing the abortion advocate on whether she supports late-term abortion or even partial birth abortion, Arrambide responded that she trusts “all people to determine what they can and can’t do with their bodies.”

What, then, separates the act of killing a child from one in the womb, the congressman wondered.

“If it is not lawful and morally acceptable to take the life of a 10-year-old child, I assume you agree with that, right? That would be wrong, correct?”

“I believe that is wrong,” she replied.

“And a 2-year-old child, same thing, that would be murder, we all agree that is wrong,” he continued. “What is the principle distinction between the human being that is 2 years old or nine months old or one week old or an hour old, than one that is eight inches further up the birth canal in the utero? What’s the difference? Why is it OK in the latter case and not the former cases?”

After a moment of speechlessness, Arrambide came back to her familiar refrain: “I trust people to determine what to do with their own bodies—full stop.”

“Wow,” Johnson reacted. “And that describes right there exactly what this is about. There’s a legal issue here but underneath that is a moral issue. It’s about reality, it’s about science, the advancement of medical technology. You’re talking about unborn children and your full stop is that you will support the termination of that child at any time and that is frightening.”

The Republican said that’s why it’s so important that the Supreme Court kicks the debate over abortion back to the states.

“Hopefully [voters will] protect the sanctity of every single human life and live up to the standards of our Declaration of Independence,” he concluded.