Power

Arizona GOP Leader Resigns After Calling for Forced Sterilization of Poor Women

"You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I'd do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations. … Then we'll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to (reproduce) or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job," Russell Pearce, the vice president of Arizona’s Republican Party, said on Sunday.

Russell Pearce, the vice president of Arizona’s Republican Party, resigned late Sunday night after advocating for the sterilization of poor women. Wikimedia Commons

Russell Pearce, the vice president of Arizona’s Republican Party, resigned late Sunday night after advocating for the sterilization of poor women.

On his talk radio program, Pearce, a former state senator, made the following comments:

You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I’d do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations. … Then we’ll test recipients for drugs and alcohol, and if you want to (reproduce) or use drugs or alcohol, then get a job.

On Saturday, the executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party called out Republicans for their “silence” on the issue. Shortly after, state Republicans took to Twitter to distance themselves from Pearce. Doug Doucey, a Republican candidate for the Arizona governor, tweeted his disapproval:

As did Martha McSally, a Republican candidate for Congress:

GOP strategist Sean Noble called for Russell’s resignation via Twitter, saying “there’s nothing conservative about fascism”:

Pearce resigned from his position in the Republican Party on Sunday. In his statement, he walked back his comments, saying that he “shared comments written by someone else and failed to attribute them to the author. This was a mistake.”