Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is known for making some controversial statements when it comes to abortion and related reproductive issues. This week, she took particular aim at Republican-led legal measures that aim to crack down on abortion, claiming that conservatives may need a lesson on "the birds and the bees."
"What is at risk is the discretion of a woman to make judgments about the size and time, timing of her family," Pelosi said in an interview that is set to air on MSNBC on Thursday. "It's respect for the judgment of women about what is good for them, for their families, their health, which is important to their families."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks to the media at her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, July 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. Leader Pelosi talked about issues before Congress including Immigration and the upcoming Farm Bill vote. Credit: Getty Images
The House Minority leader, who is Catholic, warned that laws in Texas and North Carolina could end up having a negative impact on women, as they would lead to the shuttering of essential clinics. Pelosi maintained that these locations offer women much-needed medical services and that closing them down puts females at a disadvantage.
"This is women's health, reproductive part of us is part of our health, and-and, especially young women," she said in the interview. "How can they say that we're not going to be doing contraception or we're not going to be doing family planning. And so people focus on the most extreme cases in terms of terminating a pregnancy."
It seems Pelosi has used this "birds and the bees" quip before. In 2011, while, again, speaking about family planning, she also alleged that her conservative colleagues may need education in this area.
Watch the 2011 "birds and bees" clip, below:
While Pelosi and those who agree with her maintain that the Texas and North Carolina laws would lead most abortion clinics in those states to shut down, as they are not currently in compliance with new-found regulations, others, like LifeNews.com's Steven Ertelt, have maintained that the provisions are necessary to protecting women.
"Even though the legislation is intended to protect women’s health by holding shoddy abortion clinics that can’t meet even basic health and safety standards to higher ones that legitimate medical facilities must adhere to, Pelosi framed her opposition in false terms of protecting women," he wrote earlier today.
Others, too, have criticized the politician, especially faith leaders who see her abortion views as running in opposition to her Catholic faith.
Pelosi's most recent comments from her interview with MSNBC, though it hasn't yet aired, were originally transcribed by The Hill.
(H/T: LifeNews.com)
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