Alaskan Lawmaker Calls Out Women Who Get Abortion Just to Be Able to Travel for Free
Alaska State Rep. David Eastman (R) is in hot water after saying in an interview that many women from his state get pregnant so they can have an abortion and travel for free.
The conservative lawmaker is a known anti-abortion advocate. In a recent interview, he was quoted as saying that some women in Alaska try their best to get pregnant so "they can get to the city for free."
It all started when Eastman attached an anti-abortion message in a resolution being heard to raise awareness about sexual assault and child abuse, The Washington Post reported.
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The lawmaker wrote that abortion is the "ultimate form of child abuse" in an amendment to the resolution.
Speaking to the Associated Press after the resolution hearing, Eastman stressed the gravity of abortion and how it is vital for the subject to be addressed. The lawmaker then pointed out his concern over state-funded abortion through Medicaid, which is available to low-income people.
"We have folks who try to get pregnant in this state so that they can get a free trip to the city," said the lawmaker. "And we have folks who want to carry their baby past the point of being able to have an abortion in this state so that they can have a free trip to Seattle."
Strict state regulations only allow women in the second trimester of their pregnancy to get an abortion in Seattle.
Eastman did not stop there and expressed the same personal thoughts to the Alaska Public Media.
"You have individuals who are in villages and are glad to be pregnant, so that they can have an abortion because there's a free trip to Anchorage involved," he told the media outlet.
His comments caused an outcry.
Spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands Katie Rogers said the lawmaker's opinions were "ludicrous and despicable."
"The process for a woman to get to Seattle to access reproductive health care – a full range of reproductive health care – is incredibly challenging," said Rogers. "To even suggest that women are benefiting off the very restrictions that the state has put in place as relates to second-trimester abortions is – it is a new low, even for Rep. Eastman."
The lawmaker has since issued an apology for his comments after the House censured him for his statements.
