Oh well, I guess not

This is just hitting the big time, since it just appeared over at Atrios, but its even more incredible than it first appears. A Republican State Senator votes against a bill to enable pregnant women to receive HIV tests so that they can also receive proper treatment for their babies to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to their unborn child. He votes against it because:

"This stems from sexual promiscuity for the most part and I just can't go there," he said. "We do things continually to remove the consequences of poor behavior, unacceptable behavior, quite frankly."

He defended his vote.

"What I'm hoping is that, yes, that person may have AIDS, have it seriously as a baby and when they grow up, but the mother will begin to feel guilt as a result of that," he said. "The family will see the negative consequences of that promiscuity and it may make a number of people over the coming years begin to realize that there are negative consequences and maybe they should adjust their behavior."

Even on its own terms this makes no sense. The article implies that he is strongly anti gay, but by definition these women are most likely *not gay* since they are HIV positive and pregnant. There's no stipulation that the tests are limited to unmarried women so even granted his medieval approach to the morality of fornication it makes no sense to draw your line in the sand with these tests and not with others. It was pointed out to him that sexual activity isn't the only way to become HIV positive but no one seems to have attacked his bizarre sense of priorities head on. What else does he think should be denied pregnant women and their fetuses if they don't meet his moral means test? Food? Police Services? He's actually really upset that pregnant teens (paging Sarah Palin!) aren't denied all hope of finishing highschool. But what else should be included in this litany of pain? How about birthing facilities at hospitals? Shelter in hotels and homes? Would all unmarried pregnant women be sent out to give birth in stables? How very...uh...christian.