The invitation of guests by both the president and members of Congress to the State of the Union address is a time-honored tradition. As NPR explains:
It's part of the annual tradition for the White House to invite guests who bring to life the themes of the presidential speech. Members of Congress have adopted the tradition, inviting their own guests to the gallery to highlight their legislative priorities.
President Joe Biden has invited 20 guests, to be seated alongside first lady Jill Biden during the speech. Several members of Congress have also elected to participate in the tradition, inviting people whose presence is intended to underscore their commitment or beliefs about certain critical issues facing the nation.
Thanks to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision erasing the constitutional right to abortion, one of the most pressing issues voters face this year is whether women and others who may become pregnant would be permitted by the Republican Party to terminate an unwanted pregnancy under another Trump administration.
Two Republicans, Virginia Rep. Bob Good and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, plan to demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the answer to that question is an emphatic “no.” Both have deliberately chosen guests to specifically highlight their opposition to abortion under any circumstances, sending a clear message that no termination of pregnancies can or should ever be permitted to someone who becomes pregnant, even when the victim is raped or impregnated by a father, a brother, or other close relative.
Good’s guest is Ryan Bomberger, an anti-abortion activist and co-founder of the allegedly “pro fatherhood” organization called the Radiance Foundation. Bomberger, who claims to have been the product of a pregnancy that resulted from rape, has promoted the position that rape victims should be required to carry their fetuses to term. He cites his own life as the justification for the position that anyone impregnated by rape should be forced to give birth, whether they want to carry their rapist’s fetus or not.
As the Washington Post reported in 2019, Bomberger was among the signatories to a letter addressed to the then-chair of the Republican National Committee, urging that the Republican Party work to prohibit the termination of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest. As Crary notes:
Emboldened by the bans, 17 anti-abortion leaders sent a letter Wednesday to Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel requesting a meeting and urging the GOP to explicitly oppose exceptions for rape and incest.
The signatories included Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, the Rev. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, and activist Ryan Bomberger, the son of a woman who was impregnated by a rapist but opted against having an abortion.
Cassidy’s guest, Benjamin Clapper, is an equally rabid anti-abortion activist and executive director of his state’s preeminent forced-birth organization, Louisiana Right to Life. Like Bomberger, Clapper has also forcefully advocated for prohibiting people impregnated through rape from terminating their pregnancies.
As The Advocate reported, Clapper has been the leading voice in the state to bar abortion under any circumstances, specifically “in any capacity in any way”:
Under a trigger ban that went into effect shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Louisiana bans abortion at any point in a pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest. The only exceptions are to save the life of the pregnant woman or to terminate a pregnancy deemed “medically futile,” which is not a medical term.
Louisiana Right to Life wants to see the "medically futile" exception removed by the state Legislature and the lack of exceptions for rape and incest to remain in place, Director Ben Clapper told the Press Club of Baton Rouge.
"We're going to continue to work with the Legislature to oppose laws that may allow more elective abortions in any capacity in any way," Clapper said.
As The Advocate notes, in addition to forcing victims of rape and incest to carry their fetuses to term, Clapper would also ban any termination of pregnancy even when the fetus has no chance to survive.
Both of these anti-abortion guests will presumably be highlighted by their Republican sponsors on social media during Biden’s speech in order to draw attention to themselves and garner as much credit as possible. By selecting these specific individuals, these GOP members of Congress clearly want Americans to pay close attention to what the future has in store for all women and anyone else who might want to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, assuming Republicans have their way.
Americans should oblige them.
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