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A House Republican who opposes abortion was pilloried on CSPAN’s phone lines Friday by callers who accused him of hypocrisy, arrogance and “playing God” for supporting the right of health care workers not to participate in abortions.
Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican from Georgia, has stated opposition to the Biden administration’s recent effort to force pharmacists to dispense abortifacient drugs to patients. In July, just after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and gave the states the power to regulate abortion, the Department of Health and Human Services released guidance that said pharmacists who refuse to dispense abortifacients are in violation of federal civil rights laws.
Carter, who was a pharmacist before being elected to Congress, said the guidance interferes with the doctor-patient relationship and contradicts pharmacists’ training to protect the health of their patients. He also said it goes against laws in several states that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for abortifacient drugs.
On CSPAN’s “Washington Journal” program Friday morning, Carter described his bill and then sat as several callers hurled insults.
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Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., attends a news conference with members of the GOP Doctors Caucus after a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“You’re a good example of the hubris and arrogance of the white male Christian in this country, and if you don’t want to dispense these medications maybe you shouldn’t be a pharmacist,” said a caller on the Democratic line.
That caller added, “I’d just like to say that I always felt Sherman didn’t do enough in Georgia,” an apparent reference to the burning of most of Atlanta during the Civil War.
“I think he’s the biggest hypocrite that God created,” said another caller on the Democratic line.
Two other callers, one on the Democratic line and another on the Independent line, argued that Carter’s stance on abortion is hypocritical because he does not do enough to care for children once they are born.
Pro-life protesters outside the Supreme Court.
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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“You’ve got no problem trying to protect the unborn but what do you personally do to protect the born, especially unarmed Black people that the police will shoot on the spot?” one caller said. “How many people have you adopted of color out of foster care?”
Another on the Independent line said Carter’s anti-abortion position would only lead to the birth of more unwanted children.
“I was raised unwanted,” the caller said. “I found unwanted and [un]loved all my life. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, and you are promoting it. What are you going to do with the 1 million unwanted children that are going to be born every year?”
“When are you going to stop playing God?” a caller on the Democratic line asked. “Let God be God. I don’t know why you are so concerned with other people’s business. Get out of this business of abortion and all this crazy culture wars. We’re tired of this.”
David Trujillo holds a sign a bus drives by on the street in front of a building housing an abortion provider in Dallas, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021.
(AP Photo/LM Otero)
Carter explained throughout the show that he believes pharmacists have the right to morally object to dispensing a prescription that they know will harm a child, and that his legislation is aimed at preventing the federal government from forcing the hands of pharmacists.
“These callers are saying, ‘you shouldn’t be making that decision,'” Carter said. “But you’re telling me that someone else is going to make that decision to force me to do it?”
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He said if a pharmacist wants to dispense abortifacient drug, it is their right to do so.
“I disagree with it and I don’t think they should be doing it, but I’m not telling them they can’t do it,” he said. “But the federal government wants to tell me that I must do it. That’s the problem here.”
