A Republican member of the Oklahoma House apologized after using the term “colored babies” on the House floor.
State Rep. Brad Boles’s comment came during floor debate on Tuesday, as members made cases for and against a piece of legislation that aims to restrict abortion. Boles was referring to the rates of abortion among nonwhite women.
“Earlier today, I made a mistake on the House floor,” Boles said later on in the session. “We were debating a passionate bill and, through the slip of the tongue, I said a word that it was not intended to be, and so, I apologize to members of the House or anyone that listened online that I may have offended.”
In a subsequent statement, Boles reiterated that his language was a “slip of the tongue” that “was not at all what I intended to say, nor who I am in my heart.”
Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairwoman Alicia Andrews expressed dismay about Boles’s comments. “As a black woman who is old enough to be his mother, I am shocked that someone is using the term colored in 2021,” she said.
HB 2441, which Boles was advocating, aims to prohibit the performance of an abortion without first determining whether there is a detectable fetal heartbeat. In the event that a heartbeat is detected, an abortion would be prohibited, unless the health or life of the mother were at risk.
In his floor speech, Boles also spoke about his own experience of being placed for adoption by his 17-year-old birth mother as motivating him to support the bill. “I’m here today to stand and debate for the kids that were in the same position that I was 38 years ago that can’t be here today,” he said.
Several other states have passed laws to restrict abortion in 2021. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson just signed SB 6, which outlaws abortion except to save the life of the mother. In February, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law a “fetal heartbeat” abortion bill similar to HB 2441, but a federal judge issued a retraining order shortly thereafter as pro-abortion litigants challenge the case.
