Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota believes people don’t have a right to go maskless or remain unvaccinated against COVID, yet at the same time believes women have a right to “choose to carry a child or not.”
Omar appeared on WCCO’s Sunday morning newscast with reporter Esme Murphy to briefly discuss a few issues. She touched on COVID-19, the Texas abortion law, her support for a “public safety department” that replaces the Minneapolis Police Department, and her opposition to Line 3.
Regarding COVID-19, the congresswoman said “it’s not a personal choice to infect and cause the death of others.” Then, in an apparent attempt to blame the unvaccinated or those who don’t wear masks for the pandemic, she brought up the example of her father who passed away from COVID complications.
Nur Omar Mohamed, however, died in June 2020 — just three months into the pandemic and long before the rollout of a vaccine.
Rep. Omar also told Murphy she thinks there’s a “difference” between people choosing to disobey COVID protocols and a woman choosing to have an abortion. Omar had previously called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a hypocrite for banning abortion yet also banning mask and vaccine mandates.
“There were people who were making a choice that put [my father’s] life and the lives of others in danger, and I think that there is a difference between what a woman decides to do with her body in regards to whether she wants to carry a child or not,” she said. “There are many decisions that go into that, which is very different than dealing with a public health pandemic and risking the lives of every single person you come into contact with.”
Despite her use of the word “child,” it does not appear to cross Omar’s mind that legal abortion puts the lives of unborn children at risk and attempts to whitewash the act of killing an innocent human life.
In the interview Omar also attempted to clarify her support for a public safety amendment that replaces the Minneapolis Police Department with a “public safety department,” after Murphy pointed out that other prominent Minnesota Democrats, such as Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, do not support the amendment.
Omar said it would eliminate a specific requirement for the number of police officers on the Minneapolis force, a requirement which other Minnesota cities ostensibly do not have.
“True, but they do have police departments,” Murphy interjected.
“So, many of them, again, do not actually require a police department. They have public safety department required, and some of them don’t actually have any of that,” Omar replied.
She added that the ballot amendment allows the Minneapolis City Council and mayor to “make decisions about who should respond when it comes to disturbances that do not actually require the presence of police.”
Evan Stambaugh
Evan Stambaugh is a freelance writer who had previously been a sports blogger. He has a BA in theology and an MA in philosophy.
