Rep. Trent Franks: ‘Predna’ would ‘blow a fatal hole in Roe v. Wade’

Created: March 18, 2011 13:20 | Last updated: July 31, 2020 00:00

Image has not been found. URL: http://images.americanindependent.com/2010/08/MahurinElephant_Thumb.jpgFrederick Douglass Foundation Chairman Timothy F. Johnson opened the second day of the conservative group’s annual leadership summit with some words of admonishment for the mostly black Republicans in attendance.

“We talk too much and do too little,” he told the audience of about 40, who gathered Friday at the Metro Center Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C., to hear several panel discussions mostly on the subject of restoring family values within the African-American community. “People in this room talk a lot about Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood supports candidates. … They put money in these congressmens’ pockets. We have to do the same thing.”

As an example, he pointed to Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) — who has stated ambitions to run for the Senate — who for two years has unsuccessfully pushed a federal bill that would criminalize abortions found to be based on gender or race, and who happened to be Friday’s keynote speaker and a sponsor of the FDF leadership event.

“We can help Trent Franks,” Johnson said. “He is a trailblazer.”

Franks, who was recently called out by a Media Matters Action Network blogger for saying that more African-Americans have been killed because of abortion than during slavery, defended his comments Friday, renewing his argument that Planned Parenthood wants to “wipe out the black community” and calling abortion a “silent genocide.”

“Abortion has taken more African-American lives than slavery did,” Franks said, once again.

His bill, the Susan B. Anthony Frederick Douglass Prenatal Discrimination Act, or “Predna” for short, would effectively turn abortion into a discrimination issue and be inserted into the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A state version of the bill passed the Arizona House 41-18 in February and is now in committee in the state Senate. Other states have introduced similar legislation.

“[This bill] establishes that unborn children are persons, too,” Franks said. “It might blow a fatal hole in Roe v. Wade. … Even Hillary Clinton says it’s a good idea.”

“Take this to your state,” Franks said before closing his speech with words from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. “Find some people that would be credible and introduce this.”