On the issues: Rep. Young Kim and Asif Mahmood on abortion, inflation and immigration
A lot has been written about Republican Rep. Young Kim and her controversial remarks about abortion and whether she needs to apologize for comparing herself to Dr. Martin Luther King, but there wasn’t much coverage of how the congresswoman and her staff reacted to a constituent who asked her an open-ended question.
The woman, Ayesha Talaty, was an attorney by trade who asked young Kim a question about the value of saving a life versus the value of saving a woman’s dignity. In response to Talaty, Kim took this opportunity to compare herself to MLK:
“I don’t think our country needs any Gandhi or King or anyone. I am pro life.”
“No one can force me to be pro life.”
“I am pro life, but I am pro life in the way that abortion is wrong.”
“If life is not worth living, why would you spend all of your time fighting for it, as if you were dying of some horrible disease.”
“You are wrong. There is life that is worth living and abortion is wrong.”
This is a question that gets asked on Twitter every now and then; it’s a common refrain of conservative Christians when they don’t want to be seen to be defending abortion.
Young Kim’s response is both bizarre and deeply offensive. This is, frankly, shocking on more than one level, since the young congresswoman claims to be a Christian who is “pro life.” (She’s also extremely pro-Israel.)
The reaction and responses to this controversy on Twitter were mixed. Some praised Kim’s comments, while others condemned them.
I’ve never seen a congressional representative more pro-lifer than @YoungKimKorea. But she’s just one guy!