Pro-Life Lawmaker Pressured Mistress to Get an Abortion

[JoeTheJuggler]

I am prepared to throw the abortion aspect out of the discussion and call the guy a hypocrite for having a mistress while belonging to the party of family values.

There is that. At least on this guy's side, he had a heterosexual affair.

The double hypocrisy of this guy is going against traditional family values by having an extramarital affair and going against his position on abortion by pressuring his mistress to have one.

The more typical Republican double hypocrisy is by going against traditional family values by having a same-sex extramarital affair.

 

[amensae]

The more typical Republican double hypocrisy is by going against traditional family values by having a same-sex extramarital affair.

At least it takes abortion out of the equation.

 

[eeyore1954]

It's really simpler than that. A politician who advocates outlawing abortion because it's morally wrong, who then procures or induces someone else to procure an abortion is a hypocrite. It's a no-brainer.

That says it in a nutshell.

 

[LarianLeQuella]

no-brainer.

Hey, you may be on to something there when talking about the GOP!

 

[BobTheCoward]

As I understand it, he is advocating making it illegal. How is it hypocritical?

Is it hypocritical for a football player to advocate for a change in rules, but to adhere to the current rules until they take effect? No. It seems to me he wants in made illegal as a curb to his own actions. That is one of the reasons people create laws in the first place.

 

[Ladewig]

As I understand it, he is advocating making it illegal. How is it hypocritical?

Is it hypocritical for a football player to advocate for a change in rules, but to adhere to the current rules until they take effect? No. It seems to me he wants in made illegal as a curb to his own actions. That is one of the reasons people create laws in the first place.

Well, if he is one of those folks who advocates pro-life laws because life begins at conception and abortion is murder, then it is pretty hard to not call him a hypocrite.

 

[ponderingturtle]

It’s much simpler than that. If your stated philosophy is “Everyone should be able to do what they want unless it affects someone else”, it’s pretty hard to get caught up in charges of hypocrisy simply because you don’t have much to be hypocritical about. You need to take a stand against an activity in order to be “caught” engaging in it.

You realize that this doesn't exactly counter a pro life position, as they believe abortion does effect someone else.

 

[hgc]

As I understand it, he is advocating making it illegal. How is it hypocritical?

Is it hypocritical for a football player to advocate for a change in rules, but to adhere to the current rules until they take effect? No. It seems to me he wants in made illegal as a curb to his own actions. That is one of the reasons people create laws in the first place.

To reiterate what ponderingturtle said, he's not just advocating making it illegal, he's doing so for moral reasons. It's not just a matter of law, but of morality. He has shown himself to be a moral hypocrite. The morality he intends to impose on the rest of us by law doesn't apply to himself when inconvenient.

Do you understand now?

 

[ponderingturtle]

There is that. At least on this guy's side, he had a heterosexual affair.

The double hypocrisy of this guy is going against traditional family values by having an extramarital affair and going against his position on abortion by pressuring his mistress to have one.

The more typical Republican double hypocrisy is by going against traditional family values by having a same-sex extramarital affair.

He is clearly practicing a traditional biblical marriage. Nothing wrong with him having a concubine. They just need to be a bit more traditional.

 

[ponderingturtle]

As I understand it, he is advocating making it illegal. How is it hypocritical?

Is it hypocritical for a football player to advocate for a change in rules, but to adhere to the current rules until they take effect? No. It seems to me he wants in made illegal as a curb to his own actions. That is one of the reasons people create laws in the first place.

Not at all. He is arguing these thing are immoral, so as an immoral person he will indulge in them while it is legal?

So 50 years ago raping your wide was fine as it was legal and no reason to look down in someone. The best if course tried to outlaw raping their wives while raping them of course.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Not at all. He is arguing these thing are immoral, so as an immoral person he will indulge in them while it is legal?

Pretty much the same point in other terms:

I know of no other rationale for genuinely being "Pro-Life" other than some version of the belief that the fetus is a human. So if the fetus is a human, and you believe abortion should be illegal, then you wouldn't have one (or pressure someone else to have one), even if it's legal . . . without being a hypocrite.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

I am prepared to throw the abortion aspect out of the discussion and call the guy a hypocrite for having a mistress while belonging to the party of family values.

Aside from the abortion and affair issue, there's also the problem of medical ethics (the mistress was one of his patients).

But I'd say the abortion thing is the most egregious of the three.

 

[ehcks]

If you believe that abortion is murder, and you then force someone to get an abortion, are you not a murderer at least according to your own beliefs?

 

[Puppycow]

Anti-Abortion GOPer Says His Views Have Evolved Since First Wife’s Abortions

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), the former physician turned anti-abortion Tennessee Republican congressman, says he hadn’t given abortion as much thought as he “should have” when he supported his first wife’s decisions to have two abortions, and that he often used “very poor judgment” during his first marriage and the separation that followed it.

He now looks back with regret, he says, on the sexual relationships he had with two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper.

DesJarlais won reelection earlier this month, despite the campaign-season revelation that, over a decade ago, he pressured a mistress to have an abortion. In October, he had explained that story by saying he didn’t believe his mistress was really pregnant at the time, and had urged her to get an abortion to call her bluff.

But a 679-page court transcript from his divorce trial in 2001, released in the days after Election Day, made public much more about DesJarlais’ past — including the fact that his first wife had two abortions. In an interview with The Knoxville News Sentinel this week, DesJarlais said he never intentionally misled voters about his past, and has no plans to resign.

 

[Quinn]

He now looks back with regret, he says, on the sexual relationships he had with two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper.

That was the line that made me double check that the article didn't come from the Onion.

 

[Puppycow]

That was the line that made me double check that the article didn't come from the Onion.

BTW, the chief of staff at a hospital having a sexual relationship with a drug company representative is itself a big ethical no-no. Was he buying more drugs or prescribing more drugs from this company because he was boinking this representative?

 

[Regnad Kcin]

"Now, this won't hurt a bit. Trust me, all you'll feel is a little prick."

 

[BenBurch]

"Now, this won't hurt a bit. Trust me, all you'll feel is a little prick."

It had to be done.

 

[SomedayGirl]

...he had explained that story by saying he didn’t believe his mistress was really pregnant at the time, and had urged her to get an abortion to call her bluff.

Can someone explain how this would work exactly? Sometimes I'm not all that bright but it seems if he didn't think she was pregnant, calling her bluff would mean encouraging her to have the "child".

 

[Ladewig]

Aside from the abortion and affair issue, there's also the problem of medical ethics (the mistress was one of his patients).

But I'd say the abortion thing is the most egregious of the three.

Can't he be drummed out of the medical community for sleeping with a patient?

...Is "no sex with patients" a law or a guideline?

Or merely a suggestion.