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Chris Pritt, a Republican who serves as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates from the 36th district, was harshly criticized after he suggested men should not have to pay child support because forcing men to support their children could "encourage" women to have abortions.
In fact, Pritt went so far as to suggest the practice of paying child support should be banned altogether. Oddly, he said it would be necessary to "enact the Second Amendment here" to discourage anyone who might seek an abortion.
Pritt's remarks are the latest brazen suggestion from an empowered conservative in the weeks since the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that once protected a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
You can hear what Pritt said in the video below.
Pritt said:
"If she carries through with the pregnancy, he's going to have, possibly, some sort of child support obligation. And, so, what he wants to do is, he wants to — in a sense — encourage her to go and find a way for her to get an abortion."
"Because he knows that a certain individual — if he has any kind of familiarity with her, he knows that she might be of such a state of mind, she must be in such a vulnerable position that it's not worth everything that he's going to put me through to carry this pregnancy forward."
"It's going to be easier, it's going to be better, for me to just go and terminate this 'life.' So she goes over to Virginia or to some other state where she goes and gets the abortion."
"So, I think that's a really clear possibility if we enact the Second Amendment here, I don't want to be doing anything that is encouraging thugs to go and get an abortion."
Pritt's remarks exposed him to heavy criticism online after footage of his remarks went viral
\u201cWow. They want to ban abortion and absolve men from any responsibility for getting women pregnant...makes zero logical sense, but it ensures single women and children will be stuck in poverty. Insane, but not surprising.\u201d— Cation (@Cation) 1659299449
\u201cThis would further harm women and children. Republicans continue to prove that they are an anti-woman party and that they only care about \u201ckids\u201d up to the point of birth.\u201d— Stan Van Gundy (@Stan Van Gundy) 1659303088
\u201cThese religious zealots use every opportunity to spare men any inconvenience resulting from their own actions\n\nWhile we women bear the burden of men\u2019s decisions\n\nThank you to the men out there who aren\u2019t hooked on religious psychosis or political power\u201d— Lindy Li (@Lindy Li) 1659308815
\u201cThe depravity is jaw-dropping. There is no bottom for the GOP.\u201d— Joel Montfort (@Joel Montfort) 1659310667
\u201cSo first they want to ban abortion.\n\nThen after forcing a person to remain pregnant against their will, they want the person who got them pregnant to face zero consequences.\n\nHard yikes.\u201d— AbortionChat (@AbortionChat) 1659351766
\u201cSo pro-life they think kids should starve.\u201d— A. H. (@A. H.) 1659363797
\u201cThe Republicans in West Virginia seem to think that men won\u2019t pressure women to get an abortion if they don\u2019t have to pay child support. \n\nIs this moron for real? Wonder how long it took State Rep Chris Pritt to come up with this asinine idea. SMH! \n#OurBlueVoice \n#ProudBlue22\u201d— \ua9c1\ud83e\udd8b\ud835\udda6\ud835\uddbe\ud835\uddc8\ud835\uddcb\ud835\uddc0\ud835\uddc2\ud835\uddba \ud835\udda1\ud835\uddc5\ud835\uddce\ud835\uddbe\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ua9c2Midterms 99 Days (@\ua9c1\ud83e\udd8b\ud835\udda6\ud835\uddbe\ud835\uddc8\ud835\uddcb\ud835\uddc0\ud835\uddc2\ud835\uddba \ud835\udda1\ud835\uddc5\ud835\uddce\ud835\uddbe\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ua9c2Midterms 99 Days) 1659374093
\u201cSee how male bad behavior is always met with appease? People are so quick to bargain with males but with women it\u2019s straight up \u201cdo this or suffer the consequences\u201d\u201d— Sliding sunshine\ud83e\udea1 (@Sliding sunshine\ud83e\udea1) 1659297196
\u201cI\u2019d like to know how much back child support he owes, because this sounds like a him problem.\u201d— PD Bait (@PD Bait) 1659296404
Pritt later attempted to clarify his remarks, saying that his speech "was in response to an amendment allowing men to file pre-birth paternity actions" and that he never claimed men should not have to pay child support.
He added that he has "personally known of instances where abortions were done after threats of a custody fight" though he did not offer actual evidence.