Sen. John Kennedy Gets His A*s Handed To Him When He Asks A Fact-Free Question About Abortion

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) was fact-checked and shut down by a witness who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday during a hearing on the topic of abortion.

According to HuffPost, Kennedy tried to suggest that many women have abortions in the third term of their pregnancies.

“At a Senate subcommittee hearing that focused on interstate travel for abortions as more states restrict the procedure, Kennedy mentioned a woman who supposedly asked for an abortion in her 34th week of pregnancy.”

Kennedy asked one witness, “Should the mother at that juncture have the right — clearly a viable child — to abort the child?”

When the witness told the senator she didn’t want to engage in hypotheticals, Kennedy began visible agitated.

“That’s what your side always says. My example’s not unrealistic. I wanna save my time. If your answer’s gonna be, ‘That never happens,’ let me go to Ms. Frye. What do you think?”

Ms. Frye is Jocelyn Frye, the president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, and she proceeded to lay a verbal smackdown on Kennedy.

“Well, Senator, first of all, if you– don’t ask a question if you don’t want to know the answer. But I’m saying to you, Senator, 1%, 1% of abortions happen at 21 weeks or later. So, I think the premise of your question sets up a conversation about abortion that is unfair. It is rarely, is that ever the instance. Most, the vast majority of pregnancies and abortions that are considered late in a pregnancy have to do with severe, devastating medical circumstances.”

Frye continued, “And I understand your point, Senator. I understand your point. But with all due respect, I also think the chances of people sort of getting all the way through a pregnancy and just sort of saying, ‘I don’t want it,’ is disrespectful to women.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) posted a video of the exchange between Kennedy and Frye on Twitter, along with his take on the matter.

“At my hearing on the freedom to travel for abortion care, Senator Kennedy asked our witnesses to respond to a sensationalized, highly unrealistic hypothetical aimed at stoking fear. Ms. Frye’s response says it all.”

Others on social media also praised Frye for effectively countering Kennedy’s blatant lie.

The right of every American woman to make he own reproductive choices is on the ballot in November, and it could wind up being the issue that makes the GOP a permanent minority party.