Florida’s Republican House Speaker José Oliva turned heads nationwide when called pregnant women “body hosts” as if referring to scenes from the Alien movies.
Oliva used the term in an interview with CBS Miami where he supported a “cooling off period” before abortions.
“There’s a host body and that host body has to have a certain amount of rights because at the end of the day it is that body that carries this entire other body to term,” said Oliva.
Oliva’s use of the term “host body” in describing a woman did not appear to be accidental.
He used it five times during the interview.
Oliva describes himself as a small government, conservative who believes people should be all allowed to live their lives as they see fit.
But he explained that the “host body” makes abortion a separate issue.
Florida Democrats quickly piled on criticism of the remarks.
Florida GOP House Speaker José Oliva
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat and former Planned Parenthood senior director, said: “With all due respect Mr. Speaker, my body is not a ‘host’ and personal medical decisions around my pregnancy belong to me, my family, my doctor, and my faith — not to politicians.”
Oliva in a statement following the outrage said he intended to use the phrase “host body” as a way to lower emotion but that clearly failed.
“In a recent interview where the very controversial topic of abortion was raised, I used the term ‘host’ to describe a pregnant woman. It was an attempt to use terminology found in medical ethics writings with the purpose of keeping the discussion dispassionate,” he said.
“The reaction undoubtedly shows it had the exact opposite effect. I apologize for having caused offense, my aim was the contrary.”
Oliva said he would support abortion legislation dictating a “cooling off period” to delay women—whom he described as the “host body”—from going through with the procedure.
It would also require that women be given “information” that could sway their final decision.
Critics said the notion simply confused medical facts entirely.
“Pregnant patients are autonomous people, not a ‘host body,’ “ said Dr. Daniel Grossman.
He also linked to a University of California, San Francisco study that found women don’t change their minds about getting abortions regardless if they wait three days.