¶ Reproductive Rights
¶ Post-Roe Leak
Billy Long Claimed That Potential Decision Overturning Roe V Wade And Banning “The Butchering And Wholesale Slaughter Of Innocent Human Beings” Was Good. Billy Long tweeted, “Devastating news for our country??? Beyond Thunderdome! Not allowing the butchering and wholesale slaughter of innocent human beings - that's right I said it - not a clump of cells - is devastating news for our country??? NO IT IS NOT!” [Twitter, @auctnr1, 5/2/22]
Billy Long Said He Was Optimistic That The Supreme Court Would Overturn Roe V Wade. According to ABC 17, “Rep. Billy Long, who represents southwest Missouri and is running against Hartzler in the Republican primary for Senate, celebrated the news. ‘I was a senior in high school when Roe v. Wade was decided,’ Long said in a prepared statement. ‘I didn’t understand abortion then, and I don’t understand it now. Killing an innocent human life is simply incomprehensible to me. I am optimistic that these reports are true, and that the Supreme Court will do the right thing, finally overturning this travesty of a decision. I have always stood up for the Right to Life, and will continue to do so.’” [ABC 17, 5/3/22]
Billy Long Accused Democrats Of “Selective Outrage” Over Ignoring Fire At Anti-Abortion Center. Billy Long tweeted, “The #Democrats demand a prime-time televised production to showcase and denounce January 6th but remain silent on threats to #SCOTUS Justices' lives, the fire bombings, and attacks on pregnancy care centers. #SelectiveOutrage.” [Twitter, @USRepLong, 6/9/22]
Billy Long Claimed Leak Of Draft Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe V Wade Decision “Weakened The Foundation Of Our Democratic Republic.” Billy Long tweeted, “Unprecedented move? Well, so was the #SCOTUSLeak. Fight fire with fire. The #SCOTUS leak weakened the foundation of our democratic republic and jeopardized the stability of the #JudicialBranch. bit.ly/3PRGdBa” [Twitter, @USRepLong, 5/31/22]
¶ Billy Long Welcomed Supreme Court Decision overturning Roe V Wade
Billy Long Said In Response To Roe V Wade Decision, “I Am Thrilled The State Of Missouri Has Now Outlawed All Abortions In The State, In Accordance With Our ‘Trigger Law’ To Ban Abortion Immediately After Roe Was Overturned.” According to a Press Release from the Office of Congressman Billy Long, “Congressman Billy Long issued the following statement after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. ‘Today, the Supreme Court made the right decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health,’ Congressman Long said. ‘Six justices correctly overturned one of the worst decisions in Supreme Court history. Roe v. Wade has no basis in Constitutional law, and forced the states to accept the barbaric practice of abortion. I’ve never understand how a civilized society could possibly condone the killing of an innocent child in their mother’s womb. This is simply unconscionable to me and was for 49 years. I am thrilled the State of Missouri has now outlawed all abortions in the state, in accordance with our ‘Trigger Law’ to ban abortion immediately after Roe was overturned. Now I hope that we never look back.’” [Press Release – Office of Congressman Billy Long, 6/24/22]
Billy Long Claimed He Has Waited 49 Years For Supreme Court To Overturn Roe V Wade. Billy Long tweeted, “I've waited 49 years for it and the wait is OVER!!! #SCOTUS overturns #RoeVsWade, potentially saving millions of innocent lives!!!”[Twitter, @USRepLong, 6/24/22]
Billy Long Claimed The Department Of Health And Human Services Would “Transport Women Across State Lines” Abortion Access. Billy Long tweeted, “In this case, @XavierBecerra and @HHSGov will transport women across state lines for #AbortionAccess using your #TaxDollars. We must wake up to the reality that the Left is willing to unravel our government's neutrality to achieve their political agenda.” [Twitter, @USRepLong, 6/28/22]
¶ Billy Long Claimed Legalized Abortion Lead To mass Shootings
In Radio Interview Billy Long Claimed That Roe V Wade Lead Mass Shootings Such As In Uvalde Texas. According to American Independent, “Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) said Wednesday that he believes he knows why mass shootings are so common in the United States: It’s abortion rights. In an interview on the program ‘Wake Up Columbia’ broadcast on Fayette, Missouri, radio station KSSZ-FM first flagged by the progressive research group American Bridge 21st Century, Long, who is running for the Republican nomination for the open Senate seat of retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blount, was asked whether the recent mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school might spur lawmakers to introduce legislation to address gun violence. Long, an auctioneer and former right-wing talk radio host who has been a U.S. representative since 2011, suggested that despite efforts by some to ‘blame an inanimate object’ — namely the assault rifle used in the killing of 19 kids and two adults in Uvalde — he foresees no imminent gun legislation, and instead told listeners what he thinks is behind gun violence: It’s a systemic problem. When I was growing up in Springfield, you had one or two murders a year. Now we have two, three, four a week, in Springfield, Missouri. So something has happened to our society. And I go back to abortion, when we decided it was okay to murder kids in their mothers’ wombs. Life has no value to a lot of these folks.” [American Independent, 6/1/22]
Billy Long’s Claim That Roe V Wade Decision In 1973 Led To An Increase In Murder Unsupported By All Data. According to American Independent, “Long’s argument is not backed up by the data. In 1973, the year the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade that the Constitution guarantees the right to choose whether have an abortion before fetal viability, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics there were 19,640 homicides recorded in the United States. While it has fluctuated somewhat in the intervening years, the annual number of homicides has never gotten much higher than that total. In 2020, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, there were about 21,500 homicides in the country.” [American Independent, 6/1/22]
[AUDIO] Billy Long Claimed He Had Been Saying Abortions Led To Mass Shootings And Increased Homicides Since 1999. “My first reaction was boy is Brandon have the listeners. Because I've been saying that same thing since back in 99. When I was on the radio myself, it wasn't anything new for me to say that when you decide to start killing kids in their mother's womb, that life loses, you know that people just don't respect life anymore. It didn't have anything to do with a mass shooting, one shooting over the weekend, or whether 17 people killed I think over this past weekend across the United States. And it just I mean, people don't settle things with our knuckles anymore they settle them with guns and it's a systemic problem. But I like I've said before, I was a senior in high school when Roe v. Wade came out I didn't understand abortion, and I don't understand it now how that's okay. And when you start deciding you can kill millions of children each year in abortions, how much how much value does life? My dad used to tell me, you know, the most important thing in your life? And I said what? And he said your life. And that's you know, kind of how I looked at it.”[Wake Up Columbia, 06/06/22]