A Kentucky official sparked outrage by telling his legislature that Jewish women suffer less from cervical cancer because they have fewer sexual partners and that abortion drugs are used in gas chambers.
State Representative Danny Bentley, a qualified pharmacist, stood on the floor discussing House 3, an omnibus anti-abortion bill he passed 77-20 later that day as he made mind-boggling remarks.
“In fact, the man who developed it is Jewish, because we raised a Jewish family today,” Bentley said, continuing to theorize about the sexual lives of Jewish women.
“Did you know that a Jew has less cervical cancer than any other race in this country or this world? And why is that? Because Jewish women have only one sexual partner … They don’t have many sexual partners. To say that the Jewish people approve of this drug now is wrong.
IN republican the legislator speaks after erroneously claiming that RU-486 or mifepristone – one of two pills taken to terminate an early pregnancy – was created during World War II and was originally called Cyclone B, a cyanide-based gas that was used to kill Jews during the Holocaust.
Earlier in the day, a Democrat introduced an amendment that would exempt Jewish women from the rules because faith does not believe life begins with conception, according to Louisville. Courier Magazine.
Kentucky spokesman Danny Bentley apologizes for commenting on Jewish women’s sex lives during Wednesday’s debate on abortion bill
Other lawmakers laughed when Bentley falsely claimed the abortion pill was derived from cyanide-based gas used to kill Jews in the Holocaust.
Republican remarks quickly condemned by Jewish groups and Democrat Gov. Andy Besher
Beshear wrote that “there is no room for anti-Semitism in Kentucky” in a tweet on Thursday
Bentley’s comments were condemned by a number of Jewish organizations and by Kentucky Gov. Andy Bechair, who said Thursday that “there is no room for anti-Semitism in Kentucky. Neither in our communities nor in our government.
Bentley represents Kentucky’s 98th district in the State House since 2017, according to state website.
He is a pharmacist from Russell, a river town near the borders of West Virginia and Ohio, after earning a doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Kentucky.
Lawmakers behind Bentley laughed as he delivered his speech, but his remarks continued uninterrupted.
The Republican apologized for his comments Wednesday night.
“I did not want any harm in my comments today and I sincerely apologize for everything they have done. “Last week we received a heartbreaking sad reminder that anti-Semitism still exists in our society, and I apologize if my comments today have caused such pain or any suspicion that I support the Jewish community against hatred,” he said.
Bentley was probably referring to an anti-Semitic email sent to various lawmakers at the Kentucky House last week, the Courier-Journal reported.
The Louisville Jewish Federation and the American Jewish Committee have proposed training for lawmakers on understanding and combating anti-Semitism, and a Republican Senate spokesman in Kentucky said the Senate leadership will add anti-Semitism sensitivity training to the current annual training list.
“My intention was to speak as a pharmacist with the history of RU-486 and to respond to a proposed amendment. Obviously I had to be more sensitive with my comments.
But State Sen. Karen Berg, a Louisville Democrat and the only Jewish member of the Kentucky legislature, says the information is wrong anyway.
She says the drug was indeed developed by a Jew, but it was in the 1980s.
The legislator falsely claims that Mifepristone – one of the two pills taken to induce abortion – was created during World War II and was originally called Cyclone B, a gas used to kill Jews.
The drug was invented by a Jew, but in the 80s of last century, long after World War II
Representative Bentley is a pharmacist from Russell, a river town near the borders of West Virginia and Ohio. He received his doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Kentucky
“The first clinical trials of this drug had nothing to do with World War II (and) had nothing to do with the Holocaust,” she told the Courier-Journal. “That the developer is really of Jewish descent … what’s the difference?” And why is this being talked about on the floor?
The U.S. Jewish Committee, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Louisville Jewish Federation, and the National Council of the Jewish Women’s Section in Louisville issued a joint statement condemning Bentley’s comments Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, during a hearing on women’s reproductive choices, Representative Danny Bentley made a strange, anti-Semitic joke that included bizarre allegations about Jewish women’s sex lives and outrageous allegations that Jews created the “abortion pill” during the Holocaust. for financial gain, “they said.
“We call on all elected officials and community partners to forcibly condemn anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, especially when they come from officials elected to serve the people of the British Commonwealth.”
The bill under discussion, Bill 3 of the House of Representatives, will ban the supply of drugs used to induce abortions by mail, which is now allowed in many states following a change in federal rule that removes the requirement for personal visits.
This will require the remains of the fruit to be buried or cremated.
The law will further restrict abortions for underage girls, making it difficult for them to obtain one without parental approval. He also puts the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Council in charge of enforcing drug rules, which account for about half of all abortions in Kentucky.
He will now move to the Senate.