Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said convicted abortion Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who he called a “butcher,” is proof that access to safe, legal abortion is needed.
“What led to these convictions of murder of this man is the fact that people have been pushed back into these holes to do something that’s legal,” Reid said.
Gosnell was convicted on three counts of murder stemming from the deaths of infants who were born alive when he conducted abortions in a basement clinic in Philadelphia.
Reid’s argument, that restrictions on legalized abortions force women to turn to doctors like Gosnell, was one advocates made in the early days of the case. But in the lead-up to the trial, anti-abortion rights advocates embraced the case as evidence that abortion should be banned.
Reid was asked on Tuesday afternoon about efforts by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to outlaw abortion in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy, legislation that has gained traction in conservative states.
Reid opposed that legislation and referred to other state efforts to make regulations on abortions clinics more restrictive. Those moves are seen by pro-abortion rights advocates as end-runs around court rulings that keep abortion legal. Instead, opponents have limited access by running clinics out of business.
Reid said since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled abortions should be legal, lawmakers should stop trying to limit access to the procedure.
“To keep pushing these clinics back into situations where we wind up like this is wrong,” Reid said. “I think that no matter how you stand on the issue of abortion, people who make that decision should do it and not have to be worried about infections and some butcher like this doing the bad things that they did. It should be in a place that is clean and sterile and have people who know what they’re doing and care about what they do.”
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