A Salt Lake County Councilman and former mayor thought it would be a good idea to share his … unique understanding of pregnancy in response to a tweet from Vice Presidency Kamala Harris.
Harris recently tweeted about the importance of protecting abortion access, writing in part, “We trust the women of America to make those decisions about their own bodies.” Dave Alvord responded to Harris’s tweet, writing, “The baby is not part of the body of a woman. The umbilical chord [sic] and placenta do not directly connect to the woman. The baby floats inside the woman. It is not about the woman’s body, it’s to kill then remove the baby’s body. It is done in greater proportion to black babies.”
That certainly is an interesting take. It shouldn’t have to be said but to be clear, no part of this is medically accurate. What does Alvord think that fetus “floats” in if not fluid created by the pregnant person’s body? As for the placenta, that’s an entirely new organ grown inside—and definitely connected to!—the uterus. And just in case Alvord doesn’t realize, the uterus actually is part of the pregnant person’s body and not just, like, a baby’s rent-free condo.
— RHAvote (@RHAVote) August 11, 2022
Definitely how Dave Alvord views pregnancy (image: chris (simpsons artist))
Many, many people stopped to tell Alvord just how wrong he was in his impression of the reproductive system, but he didn’t let little things like “fact” and “experts” stop him. Over the next few days, as his original tweet gained more and more attention, Alvord doubled down, focusing on issues of “blood” and sharing selective quotes from Wikipedia and links to articles that directly refute his own claims. Every single thing he’s tweeted about this has gotten ratioed into the sun.
Don’t forget this mind blowing follow up. pic.twitter.com/Sp3yWoz1TV
— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) August 11, 2022
It will probably not surprise anyone to learn that Dave Alvord has quite the history of making misogynistic, racist, and generally bigoted claims on social media. He’s said that advancement in women’s representation in sports is an attempt at “matriarchal dominance.” He wrote on Facebook that the goal of “the left” is to make everyone have the same shade of “light brown skin, exactly alike, (or else there will remain someone whiter than another).”
Alvord talks like he’s never even met a woman or a person of color, but not only does he have a lot of opinions about them—none of which are grounded in reality—but as an elected public servant, he also gets to have a say over how they live their lives.
(image: SETH HERALD/AFP/Getty Images)
