This is certainly something that conservatives would vociferously condemn if a Democrat had done it:
A Republican Congresswoman shocked teachers and students alike this month when she decided to talk about abortion to a classroom of 6-year-olds.
Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) ventured into the age-inappropriate territory during a speech at a Cincinnati Catholic school, where she addressed a room of students ranging from first to eighth graders.
“Unexpectedly, towards the end of her address, Congresswoman Schmidt brought up the topic of abortion,” Prinicipal Dan Teller wrote in a letter to parents, obtained by Cincinnati’s WLWT.com. “Your children may come home with questions, especially if this is a topic that has not been broached in your home.”
Though the abortion-related portion of the speech was reported to last under two minutes, it may be the only part anyone will remember.
“She defined abortion as the taking of a child’s life in the mother’s womb,” Teller wrote in the letter. “She indicated that abortion involves the killing of a child before it is born.”
Noting that Schmidt “was not invited to further any political agenda,” he apologized to parents “for any confusion or fear that this may elicit on the part of your child, and for the awkward position this may put you in of introducing a difficult issue at a time that may be premature for you.”
Abortion was not originally included in her speech, but Schmidt reportedly decided to address the issue in the question-and-answer period after her talk.
While speaking about the connection between moral issues and legislation, she used abortion as an example to illustrate her point.
“She received a follow-up question, which she answered consistent with Catholic teaching,” her spokesman Bruce Pfaff told Cinncinati.com.
When students kept asking about abortion, Pfaff says Schmidt told them to talk to their parents.
That’s what she should have told them from the start. Actually, she would not have had to tell them to talk to their parents about abortion at all if she had not raised the topic to begin with.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.