Rep. Gill presses abortion access advocate on procedures

A video clip of Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, questioning an abortion advocate on her preferred method of abortion received 5.7 million views on the X social media site in less than 24 hours. Gill read descriptions of several abortion methods, including saline injection, suction, and also dilation and curettage. He asked public affairs scholar Jessica Waters of American University to name which procedure she preferred. Waters repeatedly responded that she was an advocate for access to what she called reproductive healthcare, and that she preferred to stick to the subject of abortion facilities. Gill said she appeared uncomfortable discussing the procedures, which he said were barbaric and evil.

The exchange occurred during a Tuesday House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, also known as the FACE Act. The law criminalized the obstruction of access to places of worship and so-called reproductive health facilities, a category that includes both abortion centers and pro-life crisis pregnancy centers. The subcommittee, which has slightly more Republican than Democratic members, held the hearing to examine the Constitutional implications of how the Biden administration applied the law, according to its website. Republicans have accused Biden officials of weaponizing the law against the pro-life movement.

Waters was one of four witnesses testifying at the hearing. The other three witnesses represented pro-life protesters and two conservative organizations, the Thomas More Society and the Heritage Foundation. The other three witnesses’ testimonies all criticized the Biden administration for frequently using the FACE Act to disproportionately punish pro-life protesters. Some of them also argued that the law was too vague and gave the federal government too much power.

But Waters argued that the act was constitutional, and that Congress passed the act because it found that state and local laws couldn’t sufficiently protect worship and health facilities.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on a judge’s decision to drop charges against a U.K. woman over an abortion buffer zone law.