Texas Republican Says Women Should 'Absolutely' Be Jailed For Having An Abortion

A Texas Republican said last week that he believes women who have abortions should “absolutely” be punished.

In a video released by abortion access advocacy group Reproaction on May 30, Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas), who was elected in 2018, responds to questions about whether or not women who induce their own abortions should be punished with jail.

“Of course, because they just killed a baby,” he says.

When the interviewer asks if he’s concerned that women could be sent to prison for having abortions, he says, “As far as I’m concerned, they committed murder.”

Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas) at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in March. (Photo: Bill Clark via Getty Images)
Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas) at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in March. (Photo: Bill Clark via Getty Images)

Wright’s comments, according to NARAL Pro Choice Texas Executive Director Aimee Arrambide, are “not hypothetical.”

Just six months ago, in the most recent legislative session, Texas state Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R) introduced a bill that would have “banned abortion and subjected women and their doctors to the death penalty” regardless of rape, incest or fetal abnormalities.

The bill is currently pending in committee.

“North Texans deserve better than anti-abortion extremists who want to punish women for having abortions,” Arrambide said.

Though Wright was only recently elected to Congress, his long political career in the state of Texas has given him a platform to air his anti-abortion sentiments.

In 2015, as tax assessor collector for Texas’ Tarrant County, he encouraged county employees in a bizarre speech not to make donations to United Way, a fundraising nonprofit organization, for its supposed ties to Planned Parenthood.

“Hitler made the trains run on time … The good that’s being done doesn’t compensate for the evil that’s being done by Planned Parenthood.”

HuffPost reached out to Wright for comment and did not hear back in time for publication.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.