During a House floor debate on a bill to further restrict abortion in Kentucky on Wednesday, Republican Rep. Danny Bentley made false claims about Jewish people and the Holocaust, including claiming that an abortion-inducing pill was derived from the same poison gas used to kill millions of Jews.
The untrue statements from Bentley, a pharmacist from Russell, came just a week after two Kentucky lawmakers used anti-Semitic slurs during a legislative committee meeting. Rep. Walker Thomas, R-Hopkinsville and Sen. Rick Girdler, R-Somerset, both used the phrase "Jew them down" in reference to bargaining for a lower price on a lease. Both apologized last week through a spokesperson after being presented with their words.
Bentley's comments and the slurs from Girdler and Thomas bookended yet another anti-Semitic email that was sent to lawmakers late last week. On Monday, House Speaker David Osborne and Minority Floor Leader Joni Jenkins said in a joint statement that the email was "as false as it was disgusting."
