Rep. Cox To Salon.com: ‘What Happened To The GOP That I Joined?’
“What happened to the Republican Party that I joined?” Meet the lawmaker outraged by his party’s sexism
KATIE MCDONOUGH, Salon.com
Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox is an anomaly, and he knows it. As a self-identified pro-life Republican in a deep red state, Cox makes for an unlikely ally in the reproductive rights movement. But that hasn’t stopped him from being an outspoken critic of his colleagues’ efforts to scale back access to contraception and abortion services.
In a letter to his fellow Republicans, Cox admonished the modern GOP for its fixation on controlling women’s bodies. Writing in response to a proposal to ban Medicaid coverage for emergency contraception and allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control, Cox asked, ”What happened to the Republican Party that I joined? The party where conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater felt women should have the right to control their own destiny?” On the House floor this week, Cox blasted his colleagues for pushing Texas-style restrictions on providers and regulations around emergency contraception that he called “prejudiced against women.”
Beyond his voting record, Cox is something of an outlier in his party for another reason: He seems to have genuine empathy for and an understanding of the women in his state making incredibly personal medical decisions.
Cox is an emergency room physician who has, by his own count, delivered 800 babies. He considers himself pro-life, but supports — both in his capacities as a lawmaker and a doctor – a person’s right to make private medical choices. “Now, I’ve never performed an abortion, but I can tell [someone] where to go,” he told Salon during a phone conversation about the current reproductive health landscape in Oklahoma. “And if my colleagues have their way, that place would not be in Oklahoma.”
Cox spoke with Salon about the proposals currently advancing in the state Legislature, what he hears from his constituents on the ground (spoiler: Railing against abortion rights is not a top priority for the average Oklahoman), and the other ways that he breaks with his party to vote with his conscience. Below is a transcript of our conversation, condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
I agree with Rep. Cox’s question, “What happened to the Republican Party I joined?” but not for the same reason. I do agree that a woman has the right to make medical decisions for her own body; however, she does not have the right to terminate the life of another person, whether that person has been born or not. LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION. Unless God or man interferes, in approximately 39 weeks, that life will be born. Terminating a pregnancy by any means is terminating a life. Fortunately for those millions of lives who have been terminated before birth, they are back in the loving arms of our Lord.