NC GOP Rep. Tricia Cotham's Position On Abortion As Unwavering As Her Party Allegiance ... Oh Crap.
Republicans already prepping their 12-week abortion ban.
After North Carolina turncoat state Rep. Tricia Cotham's seasonally appropriate betrayal of the Democratic Party, there was some small hope that she'd maintain her previously affirmed "unwavering" support for abortion rights. It's on her website and everything! Or rather it was until late afternoon Wednesday. This is what it looks like now:
Womp! Womp! Womp!
The big question now is whether she'll keep this photo from her old site where she's surrounded by Black kids or update it with one of her cradling an AR-15.
From Cotham's now defunct website
PREVIOUSLY: NC State Rep Switches Parties, Screws Democrats, Women, LGBTQ Community, Pretty Much Everyone
Tuesday night, before her big Judas solo number press conference, Cotham told a local news outlet that she was open to supporting new abortion restrictions. Although Cotham co-sponsored a bill codifying abortion rights in the distant past of January 30, 2023, she now claims that she never believed “[abortion] was the bigger issue facing women in North Carolina."
This likely delightedCaiphas Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, who's set to introduce a 12-week abortion ban.
“The spot that most North Carolinians, in terms of the consensus, is somewhere down closer to the 12-week range," Moore said. "Personally, I support the heartbeat bill, but it appears the votes just aren’t there for that."
Moore is referring to a six-week abortion ban, which is based on junk forced-birth "science." Most North Carolinians support legal and safe access to abortion. A six-week ban is certainly worse than a 12-week ban, but actual medical professionals oppose both.
Back in 2015, Cotham spoke out on the House floor against a bill that extended the waiting period for an abortion in North Carolina from 24 hours to 72 hours. She moved the debate from the abstract and discussed how she'd ended an unviable, life-threatening pregnancy.
“It was awful, it was painful, and it was sad. It was, and is, personal,” she said. “This decision was up to me, my husband, my doctor, and my God. It was not up to any of you in this chamber, and I didn’t take a survey ... My womb and my uterus is not up for your political grab. Legislators — you — do not hold shares in my body, so stop trying to manipulate my mind.”
So, this is probably why Democrats are both shocked and appalled over Cotham's seeming abandonment of her former principles. She might accuse Democrats of "bullying" and coercive group think, but they at least believe in democracy, unlike most North Carolina Republicans. Cotham's defunct website once boasted her support for the LGBTQ community, but during her press conference, she stood next to Republican Dan Bishop, author of the anti-gay "bathroom bill."
A rightly furious Robert Reives, the Democratic caucus leader, said, "That is not the person that was presented to the voters of House District 112. That is not the person those constituents campaigned for in a hard primary, and who they championed in a general election in a 60 percent Democratic district. Those constituents deserved to know what values were most important to their elected representative.”
“Moore on whether he'll seek to protect Cotham through redistricting: "Incumbency is always taken into account. But beyond that, no determination has been made." #ncpol”
— Bryan Anderson (@Bryan Anderson) 1680700926
Cotham defeated Yolonda Holmes and Rodney Moore in the 2022 Democratic primary. Holmes and Moore are both Black and still presumably Democrats. She easily beat Republican Tony Long in the general election. Even if Republicans clear the field for her as a back-stabbing courtesy, Democrats will be out for blood. But there's also a chance that Republicans were going to gerrymander her district into oblivion anyway, so this might've been the smart move ... for herself, who is apparently her most vital constituent.
Here are members of Cotham's former party reading her for filth. Enjoy!
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“I was a passionate defender of abortion rights until someone on the left called me a poopy head.”
She was bitten by a MAGAt infected, obviously.