Abortion access has been a political issue for decades since Roe v. Wade was passed, with its precarious position taking various levels of prominence in American politics before the bombshell that was Roe’s reversal last year.
But for Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), women who may now lack life-changing access to abortion should just move on from the issue entirely.
In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Gonzales was asked about a Texas federal judge’s decision late Friday to suspend the FDA’s 23-year-old approval of the common abortion drug mifepristone. Gonzales tried to paint the decision as a states’ rights issue, despite a federal judge dictating it, and warned Democrats against allowing the FDA to ignore the court’s ruling.
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Host Dana Bash, however, noted that the drug was also prescribed for women who suffer miscarriages, which can affect millions of women a year. (A National Library of Medicine study last year estimated that as many as 26 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriages.) That, though, did not matter to Gonzales.
“It’s important that we have real discussions on women’s healthcare and get off the abortion,” he said. “Get off the abortion conversation. Women have a whole lot more other issues than just abortion. Let’s have those real conversations, and let’s talk about—let’s talk about the other things that are happening in this world.”
Gonzales then bizarrely pivoted to the southern border, bringing up a case last month in which a van of undocumented immigrants collided with a vehicle in Texas, killing 71-year-old grandmother Maria Tambunga and her 7-year-old granddaughter Emilia Tambunga. The case received national coverage from conservative outlets for both its tragic nature and as an opening to attack the Biden administration, but it was not at all related to Bash’s question.
“What does that mean? That means there’s all these other things happening in the world, especially in my district. I have got a district that’s turned upside down due to this border crisis. There’s everyday people that are impacted on this crisis, to include the Tambungas.”
Bash subtly noted how Gonzales’ tangent had nothing to do with the question she posed: “Well, both things can be true. Everyday people can be affected by all of these issues facing Americans.”
