To: Rep. Dwight Evans (PA-3)
Tell Rep. Kelly: Access to birth control is not like terrorism
I demand that you apologize for comparing access to birth control through the Affordable Care Act to the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Your comments are an insult to all Americans.
Why is this important?
We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried. Congressman Mike Kelly compared the implementation of the Affordable Care Act to Pearl Harbor and September 11. To be fair, the notoriously anti-woman Kelly was speaking specifically about the women’s health component of what he calls “Obamacare.” Kelly objects to the idea of women having access to birth control wherever they work.
Here’s what he said:
"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack. I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."
It’s one thing to disagree about public policy. It’s quite different when you equate access to birth control at work to Pearl Harbor or September 11th. It diminishes the value of the lives lost in both of those attacks, and it insults the tens of millions of women who use birth control.
Kelly needs to apologize for his outrageous insult to all Americans. This kind of vitriol is not acceptable for an American Member of Congress.
Here’s what he said:
"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack. I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."
It’s one thing to disagree about public policy. It’s quite different when you equate access to birth control at work to Pearl Harbor or September 11th. It diminishes the value of the lives lost in both of those attacks, and it insults the tens of millions of women who use birth control.
Kelly needs to apologize for his outrageous insult to all Americans. This kind of vitriol is not acceptable for an American Member of Congress.