Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bashed a prominent OB-GYN on Thursday during a U.S. Congressional hearing, asserting that she, a former bartender, knows more about pregnancy and abortion than a doctor with three decades of medical experience.
The Democrat congresswoman criticized Dr. Ingrid Skop, a Texas OB-GYN and witness at the hearing, for defending a Texas law that protects unborn babies from abortion once their heartbeats are detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy, according to a video of the hearing posted on Yahoo News.
Ocasio-Cortez called Skop’s testimony “unbelievable,” “irresponsible” and “hurtful,” and demanded an apology from the Republican lawmakers who invited her to testify. She did this even while claiming that pregnancy and abortion should be matters between doctors like Skop and their patients, not legislators like herself.
During her testimony, Skop said the Texas heartbeat law is reminding society of an “inconvenient fact” about abortion: It kills a “living, genetically distinct human being.”
“Nearly 50 years ago, the Supreme Court pretended it did not know this was a life. Today, we cannot plead ignorance,” Skop told lawmakers. “We have all seen ultrasounds, pictures of the unborn, demonstrating he is just like us, only smaller and more dependent on our care.”
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Afterward, Ocasio-Cortez attacked the pro-life doctor for defending the fact that the Texas law does not allow unborn babies with heartbeats to be aborted in cases of rape. Skop pointed out that women who are victims of rape still have about six weeks to get an abortion under the law.
Ocasio-Cortez, who used to be a bar tender and does not have any medical background, slammed Skop’s comments as “unbelievable” and then claimed that she herself may not know she is pregnant that early.
“I’m 115 pounds. You look at me funny, I’m two weeks late for my period,” she said. “And you’re supposed to expect me to know I’m pregnant? Or the stress of a sexual assault? That makes you two weeks late for your period, whether you’re pregnant or not.”
The New York Democrat said she wanted to “correct and address … the myth that this law provides ample time for a victim of abuse to seek abortion care because once again we’re in a room of legislators who are attempting to legislate reproductive systems that they know nothing about.”
“Six weeks pregnant and it’s shameful that this education needs to even happen because this conversation should not even be held in a legislative body,” she continued. “… Unbelievable, unbelievable that the Republican side would call a witness so irresponsible and hurtful to survivors across this country. Honestly, you deserve your constituents an apology.”
But Skop and pro-life lawmakers, several of whom also are medical doctors, understand that an abortion involves two lives, not just one, and both are valuable.
Skop told Congress that she has delivered more than 5,000 babies in 29 years and cared for women who suffered from botched abortions that they were forced into by members of their own family. Skop also is the medical director for a group of Texas pregnancy centers that provide resources to help pregnant and parenting mothers and babies.
Pro-life groups quickly slammed Ocasio-Cortez for her arrogance and praised Skop for helping expose the truth about abortion.
“Oh my, @AOC just told an OBGYN with decades of experienced that when it comes to abortion, the doctor doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” National Right to Life wrote on Twitter.
The Susan B. Anthony List thanked Skop for sharing how abortions hurt women as well as unborn babies.
“From her testimony: ‘I remember holding the hand of a woman who was dying as a result of abortion complications,’” SBA List shared on Twitter. “’A black woman who was my patient recalled tearfully how her mother forced her to undergo an abortion; then her current boyfriend wanted her to abort this, her second child. She strongly desired both of her children. How is this a woman’s choice?’”
Democrat House leaders called the hearing to attack the Texas heartbeat law, which has saved as many as 2,800 babies’ lives so far, and demand that the U.S. Senate pass a radical pro-abortion bill that would legalize abortions for basically any reason up to birth nation-wide.
