Republican Congressman Gets Steamrolled by Pro-Choice Witnesses for ‘Ridiculous’ Questions About Infanticide

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) butted heads with pro-choice advocates who scolded his line of questioning during a contentious exchange in a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

At one point during the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and its impact on abortion rights, Norman asked each witness if they support the killing of infants.

“Do you support infanticide – killing a child after he’s born?” he asked Sarah Lopez of Jane’s Due Process, an abortion rights organization.

“I do not agree with the basis of that question,” she responded. “But I do believe that abortion is healthcare.”

“Ok, so I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ you do agree with infanticide,” he replied.

Norman turned to Democratic Georgia state Rep. Renitta Shannon and asked, “Do you agree with infanticide?”

Here’s how that exchange went:

SHANNON: Well, I think you’re using inflammatory language to basically describe a situation that does not happen. We don’t have infanticide happening. Doctors would not do that and neither would folks who have carried pregnancies–

NORMAN: Ok, do you agree if a healthy child is born that it’s that woman’s right to decide if it lives or dies?

SHANNON: What I think, is based on your question, you have a very low opinion of pregnant people because if you think–

NORMAN: No, no, answer the question.

SHANNON: Excuse me. I’m answering it. Do you wanna answer it or do you wanna keep talking over witnesses? What I’m telling you is, nobody would carry a pregnancy and then decide on a Monday, because they are bored, that they want to have an abortion. That’s ridiculous and it’s inflammatory, what you’re saying. You’re talking about families who are in tough situations where folks have been excited about carrying a pregnancy. Most of the abortions that happen later in pregnancy are really tragedies where it’s really a disappointment for everyone involved.

NORMAN: I take it with all those words, you do agree with basically murdering a child after they’re born.

Norman then turned to Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women’s Law Center and the exchange went about as well as the previous one.

NORMAN: Could you answer that, yes or no?

GRAVES: I have to say, Congressman, how you just characterized the representative’s statement is extremely inflammatory and the type of thing that is dangerous. You guys have been talking today about the threats against crisis pregnancy centers, which I assume are serious and are terrible. The threats that people who work on abortion access take every single day–

NORMAN: I’m assuming that you’re for infanticide.

GRAVES: –and part of it is because of this sort of inflammatory and outrageous language. It’s not ok.

Norman reclaimed his time and the hearing moved on.

Watch above via C-SPAN.