Florida Republican Representative Kat Cammack was widely criticized after opening up to reporter Tara Palmeri about having trouble accessing abortion for an ectopic pregnancy in Florida after she helped pass a six-week abortion ban in the state.
Cammack told the Wall Street Journal that she faced delays in receiving treatment for a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy shortly after Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect in May 2025.
Cammack blamed those delays not on the law itself but on what she described as misleading messaging from abortion-rights advocates that had made healthcare workers fearful of legal repercussions, telling the Journal:
“It was absolute fearmongering at its worst. There will be some comments like, ‘Well, thank God we have abortion services,’ even though what I went through wasn’t an abortion.'"
I can sometimes excuse a voter to be ignorant and misled, up to a certain point.
I have absolutely no mercy for a lawmaker whose job is to educate oneself and vote bills based on one’s understanding and representing a political point of view.
Before such a law is passed, there are debates during which I am sure other lawmakers and health professional warned about its consequences. And even if there were not, it was still her damn’ job to find such people and educate herself.
She is the first line of responsibility. She voted the bill. If she’s a willful ignorant, then she’s just fucking incompetent at her job, and she should be removed. Period.
I’m not saying you should excuse anyone’s bad behaviour. And that’s a good point about people in power deserving to be held to higher standards. My point is more to take issue with the problematic behaviour specifically, without exaggerating or straw-manning.
The real way to convert people is to have a one on one discussion and find common ground first, seriously try to understand their side and motivations and then question it deeply. That can disarm them and actually get them to think about why they believe that stuff. Often people who hold stupid beliefs have never properly questioned them.
So, it doesn’t really work in online forums. But, I firmly believe that spreading more hatred is just going to make things worse.
It’s impossible to have a discussion with someone who refuses to listen.