A routine bill updating communicable disease laws unanimously passed a Colorado House committee Monday, punctuated by a rhetorical poke in the eye by an AIDS activist over a morality firestorm ignited in the Senate. Yet it was the testimony of a humble Denver nurse that brought down the house.
After setting off a national firestorm over a series of dig-the-hole deeper statements that HIV testing of pregnant women rewards promiscuity, state Sen. Dave Schultheis may have found himself a very improbable ally.
Square State blogger Sufimarie posts an email from state Sen. Dave Schultheis blaming Rocky Mountain News reporter Lynn Bartels reporter for sullying his reputation by not helping him clarify his own clumsy remarks that HIV infected babies would cause families to “see the negative consequences of that promiscuity.”
The commented stemmed from the Colorado Springs senator’s argument Wednesday on the Senate floor that a bill requiring HIV tests for pregnant women would reward promiscuity.
State Sen. Dave Schultheis earned a distinction he probably won’t be using in his next electoral bid — “Worst Person in the World” — from the liberal MSNBC news analysis program Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Schultheis has received universal scorn for his remarks yesterday that HIV testing for pregnant woman ‘rewards promiscuity’ and that babies born HIV positive are punishment for immoral behavior during a Colorado Senate floor debate on a communicable disease control bill.
State Sen. Dave Schultheis restated his opposition to a bill over requiring HIV tests for pregnant women by claiming that infected babies would cause families to “see the negative consequences of that promiscuity.”
UPDATE: The Rocky re-arranged its original story posted at 1:05 p.m. and buried Sen. Schultheis’ controversial quote in a linked side bar.
Democrats were outraged Wednesday morning when Republican state Sen. Dave Schultheis said he planned to vote against a bill to require HIV tests for pregnant women because the disease “stems from sexual promiscuity” and he didn’t think the Legislature should “remove the negative consequences that take place from poor behavior and unacceptable behavior.” The Colorado Springs lawmaker then proceeded to cast the lone vote against SB-179, which passed 32-1 and moves on to the House.
UPDATE: Schultheis restates his opposition to the bill by claiming HIV babies are punishment for promiscuous moms.
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