Fanatics tend to think in absolute terms, and Republican Doug Mastriano, currently running for governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is no exception.
In 2019 Mastriano gave an interview to central PA public broadcast affiliate WITF in support of legislation he introduced as a state senator which would ban almost all abortions after six weeks, a time frame in which many people do not even realize they’ve become pregnant. His remarks during that interview went unreported at the time, but have since been unearthed by NBC News.
As reported by Allan Smith:
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, said in 2019 that women should be charged with murder if they violated his proposed abortion ban.
Mastriano was specifically asked if a woman obtained an abortion after 10 weeks, for example, in violation of his proposed “fetal heartbeat” law introduced on Oct. 18, 2019, whether they should be charged with murder.
“OK, let’s go back to the basic question there," Mastriano said. "Is that a human being? Is that a little boy or girl? If it is, it deserves equal protection under the law."
Asked if he was saying yes, they should be charged with murder, Mastriano responded: "Yes, I am."
Mastriano hasn’t commented on his 2019 statements, but acknowledged on Monday that he, of course, would have to rely on the Commonwealth’s (current) Republican-controlled legislature to provide him with a bill limiting the number of weeks (if any) that he would permit women and those who become pregnant to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. His own, “public” position is actually more restrictive than it was in 2019, with absolutely no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
As Smith reports, this is the single issue that animates Mastriano’s candidacy.
At last week's Pennsylvania March for Life, Mastriano called the battle over abortion rights "the single most important issue, I think, in our lifetime." In a call last week with the Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania, reported by WESA, Mastriano said: "We can fulfill and achieve most of our desires in protecting life when we win on eight November," adding he looks forward to signing into law "either [a] heartbeat bill or" other legislation that would restrict the procedure.
In his 2019 interview he also opined that doctors who performed such a procedure should also be charged with murder.
The movement to turn women and others who become pregnant into criminals for terminating their pregnancy has gained currency among the forced birth lobby since six conservative Supreme Court justices this June overruled the constitutional protection to the right of abortion as set forth in Roe v. Wade. Mastriano’s statement that a fetus deserves “equal protection under the law” is directly in line with the thinking of these groups, who are pushing for a constitutional amendment that would declare a fetus as a “person,” with all of the rights that come with that status.
Based on his unequivocal statements it’s clear that Mastriano intends to put himself at the vanguard of this movement, if he should become governor.