Anti-choice Tea Party Congressman pressured pregnant mistress to get an abortion

Tennessee Tea Party Rep Dr. Scott DesJarlais -- a serial philanderer who told a court he'd cheated on his wife four times -- calls himself anti-abortion. His website says, "All life should be cherished and protected. We are pro-life." He has consistently voted for legislation that restricted abortion. But when he got his mistress pregnant, he insisted that she get an abortion. Here's a transcript of some of that conversation:

"If we need to go to Atlanta, or whatever, to get this solved and get it over with so we can get on with our lives, then let's do it," Desjarlais says.
“Well, we’ve got to do something soon. And you’ve even got to admit that because the clock is ticking right?” he says at another point.

I guess that this is consistent with an anti-choice position (he doesn't want women to choose, he wants their married boyfriends to choose), but "pro-life"? Not so much.

Anti-choice GOP Congressman pushed mistress to get abortion (Thanks, Winkel!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: abortion • choice • christ what an asshole • gender • gop • politics • tea party • tn

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

lknope

I suppose he was basically telling her that in cases of legitimate adultery, there are ways of just shutting that whole thing down.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Well, he would know. He’s her doctor and she’s his patient.
Mark_Frauenfelder

This probably won’t hurt him, since he seems to be mainly going after the moron vote.
- Guest
  
  I’d rather vote for a jar of dejeneur sauce.
PhosPhorious

He’s not anti-choice for himself. Just for women.

Be reasonable!
- C W
  
  Exactly. He’ll force his mistress/daughter/both to get an abortion under the cover of dark, while wearing sunglasses, etc.
- digi_owl
  
  Reminding us once again that the different stripes of religious fundies have more they agree on than disagree on.
  - acerplatanoides
    
    it’s fundamental
bluest_one

It’s the unwritten rule – which is the inverse to the golden rule – do as I say, not as I do.
- digi_owl
  
  Also known as one rule for the elite, quite a different one for the hoi polloi…
  - acerplatanoides
    
    some animals are more equal. And some are walrus’
    - wysinwyg
      
      Walrus’ what?
Toffer99

Look at him! Desperately trying to smile as he’s seen humans do.
rebaj

Every abortion provider already knows this. If you work at a place with protesters long enough, eventually you see a familiar face from the protester crowd in the clinic for an abortion, or with someone who is getting an abortion. Many of them talk about how they are different than every other woman who wants an abortion. Some are outraged that they have to sit in the waiting room with “those” patients. Many of them go right back to protesting outside the next week.

We talk about how abortion restrictions should have exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother….in reality people want exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother – and themselves.
- http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby
  
  Well a lot of the principles of liberalism rely on selflessness. In contrast right-wing policy is often quite selfish.
  
  So really, that makes perfect sense.
- Brainspore
  
  You’ll also find similar “exceptions” for conservatives who find themselves in need of social safety nets like welfare, food stamps or really any manner of “oh shit how did I find myself in this situation” kind of scenarios.
  
  Remember how Rush Limbaugh suddenly decided the ACLU was the best organization ever as soon as the privacy of his own medical records became a deciding factor in whether or not he would go to jail for illegal drug use?
  - C W
    
    “Remember how Rush Limbaugh suddenly decided the ACLU was the best organization ever”
    
    No? Did that last a day longer than his criminal case?
    - Brainspore
      
      Did that last a day longer than his criminal case?
      
      Now let’s not be silly.
  - TooGoodToCheck
    
    Succinctly summed up by Craig T Nelson – “I’ve been on food stamps and welfare, did anybody help me out? No. No.”
- chgoliz
  
  The only moral abortion is my abortion: http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html
archanoid

Reminds me of this: http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/anti-tales.html
- chgoliz
  
  *fist bump*
  
  First thing I thought of, too.
galois

It’s almost like…I don’t know…it’s almost like politicians just SAY things to get elected or something! And then their real views are totally different from what they said!
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Drop/100000929402049 Robert Drop
  
  His views could very well line up with what he’s said. There are a lot of people who are vehemently anti-abortion who consider themselves special exceptions to their principles.
  - acerplatanoides
    
    This is the essence of what is wrong with reading Ayn Rand at 19. It sticks around.
    - petertrepan
      
      It’s okay just as long as you read an equal amount of Kurt Vonnegut. Which I suppose would mean stopping on every other chapter of Atlas Shrugged and reading another Kurt Vonnegut book.
      - acerplatanoides
        
        That is the essence of my reading strategy at 19. Plus some Ursula LeGuin balanced with Hemingway.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

Even though I am a Tennessean who did not, and would not, vote for DesJarlais, I would like to offer an apology on behalf of my state for inflicting this individual on the rest of the country.

And I can assure you that if this comes up in his reelection campaign he will simultaneously call for the campaign to be about “the issues” while also claiming that his opponent has done something equally execrable. After all it was a tactic that worked for him in his last campaign. Why change what works?
- jetfx
  
  “DesJarlais, who was provided a copy of the transcript by HuffPost, did not deny its contents, but in a statement released through his campaign characterized it as just another sordid detail dredged up by the opposition. ‘Desperate personal attacks do not solve our nation’s
  problems, yet it appears my opponents are choosing to once again engage in the same gutter politics that CBS news called the dirtiest in the nation just 2 years ago.’”
  
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/scott-desjarlais-abortion-pro-life_n_1953136.html
  - acerplatanoides
    
    (when I did it)
- petertrepan
  
  Even though I am a Tennessean who did not, and would not, vote for DesJarlais, I would like to offer an apology on behalf of my state for inflicting this individual on the rest of the country.
  
  Even though I am an Alabamian who didn’t get a chance to vote for or against DesJarlais, I would like to apologize in advance for whatever Alabama does next.
schlocktober

I don’t see the contradiction. Compelling his mistress to have an abortion is decidedly anti-choice.
John Verne

Now I have to wear my surprised face all day.
http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

I don’t see how this changes his stance of ‘anti-choice’.
kaellinn18

And absolutely no one is surprised.
huskerdont

Everyone is anti-choice until they need to be otherwise. Then they see the value of freedom, even if they choose to have a child.
- C W
  
  “Then they see the value of freedom”
  
  What, no? They don’t. It’s the very definition of “Fuck you, I’ve got mine.”
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Drop/100000929402049 Robert Drop
    
    The value of freedom for themselves, of course. Doesn’t apply to anyone else who will simply abuse that freedom, don’t you know.
Mitchell Glaser

I remember a story from a nurse who was assisting a patient after an abortion. The patient’s mother, who was standing next to the bed, turned to the nurse and said “murderer!” The depth of their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
morcheeba

This is as close to having an abortion as this man can physically get. Why didn’t they do an ultrasound of the fetus and describe it to him to make sure this was the decision he wanted to make?
- TWX
  
  I don’t think that it would have made a difference.
  
  If they’re going to require vaginal penetration ultrasounds for women to get abortions, then they should require prostate exams to men before they’re given the happy pill, make sure they’re healthy enough for sexual activity and what not.
  
  Which is my way of saying I don’t think that either should be the case.
  - acerplatanoides
    
    The problem with farce is its predilection to predate actual events.
Navin_Johnson

Options for me, but not for thee.
- http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog
  
  “Well sure I’m pro-life: my own!”
papiermeister

Anyone else think he looks like Hank Schrader from Breaking Bad?
- Guest
  
  Oh please, Hank Schrader is a badass, this one is just an ass.
corydodt

It all comes down to mens’ right to choose. When will these left-wingers get it?
- acerplatanoides
  
  WHITE men. FYT.
ChicagoD

I admire that guy’s ability to have mistresses. He must have a hell of a personality.*

* As long as you don’t get pregnant, apparently.
- Brainspore
  
  He must have a hell of a personality.
  
  Or money. Or power. Or just a general willingness to exploit women with low self-esteem.
- http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher
  
  If he’s anything in person the way he comes across on television and in his campaign ads then I would definitely describe his personality as “hell”.
Navin_Johnson

The transcript is priceless, at one point the mistress mentions both his current wife and ex-wife. Must be hard to keep track.
- ChicagoD
  
  That’s why you give them all the same nickname. Keeps the eye-gouging down.
  - conflator
    
    Yeah, but it gets real uncomfortable when they realize you call all of them “Mittens”.
http://www.facebook.com/andy.pober Andy Pober

Another of our esteemed congressmen on the Republican side…
Sorry, he won’t let you choose an abortion although he insists that his mistress has one.
- acerplatanoides
  
  doesn’t really sound like it’s her choice, does it?
snagglepuss

Does anybody here think that anybody other than the idiots who would have voted for this rat-bastard, would be offended if we simply set him on fire ?
Cowicide

So, America… how’s that “not voting in the lesser evil” workin’ out for ya? Get out and vote, assholes.
mlw99

Let it not be overlooked that the schmuck recorded the conversation himself with the bizarre idea that if his wife listened to it, it would help their marriage. The only thing dumber is years later going into public life with Tea Party views and thinking that his hypocrisy would not come to light. Sheesh.