MANASSAS, Va. – Delegate Bob Marshall will refer to scripture when explaining his anti-abortion beliefs. But the longtime Virginia lawmaker says he wants to set the record straight about a published report claiming he said God punishes some women who’ve had abortions by inflicting their subsequent children with disabilities.
“Wrong. Never happened. I don’t believe that,” Marshall told Fox 5 News in an exclusive interview in his hometown of Manassas Tuesday night. Read more
MANASSAS, VA – A February 22nd Capital News Service story claimed, “Western Prince William Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) says disabled children are God’s punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.”
I never made this statement. I believe that all children, no matter their background are a blessing from the Lord, not a punishment. Capital News Service never called me about these alleged comments.
No other reporter who attended the same February 18th press conference regarding Planned Parenthood funding made the same claim for the simple reason that I never made such a statement about disabled children.
A video of the press conference bears this out. (May be accessed in its entirety at the end of this article)
Furthermore, my personal and public life show a respect for unwanted or disabled children, including our adoption of three children, my bills to provide for health insurance for autistic children, and my bill this year requiring that women be informed of possible problems in future pregnancies from abortion.
I acknowledge that my extemporary remarks could have been better chosen to explain the medical research findings which show a high incidence of complications following induced abortions.
I understand how disability groups could react, but they are reacting in part to words I never said, never meant, and don’t believe. But I apologize to all for the misuse of my words especially to disabled Virginians or others offended.
My purpose was to show how authentic medical findings demonstrate that abortion has consequences beyond the death of the child being aborted. That is why I have proposed HB 334, which passed the House of Delegates 95-2, and which requires women undergoing abortion to be offered medical articles concerning possible complications in future pregnancies.
I take my oath of office seriously, and believe it is important to protect my constituents by ensuring full transparency about a procedure that may adversely impact their future reproductive health. That is why I strongly believe that Planned Parenthood, which performs one-fourth of abortions nationwide and opposes protecting women with this vital information, should not be funded by Virginia taxpayers.
Children, whether wanted or unwanted, intended or unintended, “normal” or disabled, are blessings from a loving God, and I will continue to fight on their behalf and on behalf of the courageous families who care for these wonderful children.
Fighting for you,
Delegate Bob Marshall
13th District Delegate
VIDEO:
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Verbatim. The TRT is 2:05:
“Thank you very much for coming here today. We are dealing with an attempt to defund, frankly, a malevolent organization. And I say that because you know people by their fruits. In 1960, 65, the out of wed-lock birthrate for blacks was 25 percent. I think it was about 23 percent in 1960 – it was 5 percent for all races. Now it’s 40 percent. It’s 72% for blacks, 51% for Latinas. These are the fruits of planned parenthood. OK. Nothing else. More heartache. More guys who are completely irresponsible and think that women have one function and one function only for a few minutes. OK. But this just isn’t affecting our families, our inner cities, our communities and our state. This poison animates a world-wide population control program that the United States funds and which is unnecessarily making us enemies overseas. We are attacking traditional family structure in a way that no country should be doing. These aren’t my words. Go read a book by Denesh DeSouza. Ok. He’s looking at it from a cultural, historical perspective. This organization should be called Planned Barrenhood cause they have nothing to do with families, they have nothing to do with responsibility. One-fourth of all abortions are done by Planned Parenthood in the United States. Ok. The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion who have handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first-born of any, Nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the first-born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest, and with the knowledge they have from faith has been verified by a study by the Virginia Commonwealth University. First abortions of the first pregnancy are much more damaging to the woman than latter abortions. None of these are good for anybody but this organization has had its time. They have failed in their efforts and we need to defund them and not have them receive a dime of public money.”
MANASSAS, VA – A story by Capital News Service regarding my remarks at a recent press conference opposing taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood conveyed the impression that I believe disabled children are a punishment for prior abortions. No one who knows me or my record would imagine that I believe or intended to communicate such an offensive notion. I have devoted a generation of work to defending disabled and unwanted children, and have always maintained that they are special blessings to their parents. Nevertheless, I regret any misimpression my poorly chosen words may have created as to my deep commitment to fighting for these vulnerable children and their families.
Sincerely,
Delegate Bob Marshall
State Delegate, 13th District
Prince William County, Loudoun County
Virginia’s House of Delegates on Thursday voted to defy a potential health insurance mandate from Congress. The vote, which follows the passage of a similar measure in the Virginia Senate last week, puts the state legislature squarely in opposition to a core provision of congressional Democrats’ health care bill.
The Virginia Health Care Freedom Act, sponsored by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, passed 72-26 in the Republican-controlled chamber.
The legislation looks to exempt Virginians from any government requirement to buy into a health plan, although its larger purpose is as a “message bill” meant to persuade federal legislators — especially those representing Virginia — to back off from the proposed overhaul.
“It’s pretty clear that government-run health care is unwelcome in Virginia,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the conservative Family Foundation. “Hopefully our federal representatives will get the message and pull the plug on Obamacare.”
The precarious position of national health care legislation hasn’t stopped lawmakers in Virginia from moving ahead with bills that seek to defy a federal health insurance mandate.
The proposals — which have advanced in committee or subcommittee in both the Virginia House and Senate — look to exempt Virginia from Congress’ health care initiatives. While the measures may end up being more symbolic than substantive, they have gained wide notice as Republican lawmakers seek to harness unrest over an expanded federal role in medical care.
Del. Bob Marshall’s Health Care Freedom Act has become this session’s most viewed bill on the state’s legislative Web site — with more looks than even the two-year budget proposal.
With a pro-charter school administration at the helm, Virginia’s relatively tough laws regulating the specialty schools could soon change.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has said he wants to see changes to make it easier to open charter schools, even mentioning his support in his response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Wednesday.
He also appointed charter school proponent Gerard Robinson, who had served as president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, as state education secretary. That organization aims to provide low-income and working-class black families with access to high-quality education through such programs as charter schools, school vouchers, virtual schools and more.
And in this General Assembly session, bills have been introduced that address charter school policies statewide. One submitted by Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, would withhold state funding to school systems that deny applications from charter schools deemed acceptable by the state Board of Education.
The amount would be based on the average daily student membership proposed within the charter application. The bill says funding would continue to be denied until the local division approves the previously denied application.
RICHMOND–Last year’s “tea parties” and health care town halls gave voice to a groundswell of concerns about federal government spending and encroachment into people’s lives.
Now those concerns are finding voice in state legislation aimed at limiting the federal government’s power.
Several members of the Virginia House of Delegates, including Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, have submitted bills that aim, in various ways, to restrict federal influence.
Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, has put in bills to exempt Virginians from federal health care mandates. Cole has a similar bill. He has also introduced legislation to restrict federal oversight of commerce by saying that federal interstate commerce laws and regulations don’t apply to goods and services made and sold in Virginia that don’t cross state lines.
Cole also has a resolution urging Congress to establish a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution.
Officials in Virginia a short time ago joined attorneys general in a dozen other states to object to the provisions of “Obamacare,” the pending legislation that would give the federal government unprecedented control of health care, and the state’s incoming attorney general is chomping at the bit to get to work on the issue.
Ken Cuccinelli, who will take the oath of office this weekend, said it’s a simple matter of the government lacking authority to impose the decisions members of Congress are making for their constituents.
“I believe the individual mandate violates individual rights,” Cuccinelli said in an interview. “I do not believe the federal government has the legal authority in the [U.S.] Constitution to mandate that individual Americans purchase health insurance.
“A corollary to that is that the [Senate] bill, as it is currently written, requires state governments to set up healthcare exchanges to facilitate individual mandates. I do not believe that under the Constitution the federal government has the authority to dictate or effectively force states into its bureaucracy,” he said.
The opposition is just one of the moves afoot to challenge the Democrat plan should it eventually succeed and be adopted as law. The outgoing Virginia attorney general, Bill Mims, had joined with 12 other Republican state attorneys general to object to the Senate’s version, which exempts Nebraska from paying Medicaid fees.
Assuming ObamaCare actually becomes law, what happens when its onerous health insurance mandate – complete with the threat of fines and prison time if you don’t buy insurance deemed acceptable by the federal government – is tested?
You file your tax return. You fail to offer proof that you have a policy that puts you in compliance with the law. The IRS tries to penalize you, possibly by garnishing your state tax refund.
If you live in Virginia, you might have the commonwealth in your corner. And that’s not only because the primary sponsor of a bill to protect taxpayers believes they deserve the protection.
It’s also because he’s opening to provoke a test case that could get ObamaCare thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bob Marshall, a Republican delegate to the legislature from the city of Manassas, has submitted a bill that reads as follows:
No law shall restrict a person’s natural right and power of contract to secure the blessings of liberty to choose private health care systems or private plans. No law shall interfere with the right of a person or entity to pay for lawful medical services to preserve life or health, nor shall any law impose a penalty, tax, fee, or fine, of any type, to decline or to contract for health care coverage or to participate in any particular health care system or plan, except as required by a court where an individual or entity is a named party in a judicial dispute. Nothing herein shall be construed to expand, limit or otherwise modify any determination of law regarding what constitutes lawful medical services within the Commonwealth.
In other words, the Commonwealth of Virginia will not recognize any law that requires a resident to enter into a health insurance contract not of his or her choosing. In any situation that would require the involvement of the Commonwealth in enforcing such a requirement – and there would surely be many – Virginia won’t play ball. Not only that, but it will go to court to defend its right not to do so. Read more
