Attacks on a candidate's ­integrity are no way to win

Our mailboxes have been deluged with attack ads against our State Senator Ron Muzzall, saying he is a “two-faced” liar trying to “take away our reproductive freedom.”

Some reality therapy: Washington has been one of the states most protective of a right to abortion for over half a century. In 1991, the voters narrowly (50.1% to 49.9%) approved Initiative 120, declaring a right to abortion for any reason until viability (when a child can survive outside the womb) and for any “health” reason after that. In 2018 the Reproductive Parity Act made it illegal for a health insurance company to comply with a woman’s request for maternity benefits unless she also purchases abortion coverage. (Not exactly “freedom of choice.”)

In large capital letters, one ad says Sen. Muzzall “LIED” – because he has said he “would never vote to take away a right,” but voted against three recent abortion bills. The ad provides bill numbers, so I reviewed them myself.

The first law, HB 1851, allows non-physicians to do abortions. One ad says only that it “protects access to abortions.” The second, SJR 8202, proposes a constitutional amendment to expand abortions beyond what the voters narrowly approved, allowing them in the sixth to ninth month for any reason – and by writing it into the state constitution, making it much more difficult to change later if it is found to harm women. So supporters wanted to expand elective abortions into the last weeks of pregnancy, when they are most dangerous for women, after weakening the medical qualifications for performing them.

The third law, HB 1469, declares that if someone commits a crime related to abortion or sex-change (gender transition) treatment in another state, and flees to Washington – for example, a sex trafficker or child abuser evading the home state’s parental notification law when a minor is involved – our law enforcement personnel must not cooperate with that state’s effort to locate the perpetrator unless we have the same law. (While one ad says this “protects abortion patients from outside legal persecution,” no state allows legal liability for a woman or girl having an abortion.)

The perpetrator can even file suit against the other state, for trying to enforce its own law. This proposal seems to violate Article IV of the U.S. Constitution (Secs. 1 and 2), which requires states to do just the opposite in these situations.

In short, Sen. Muzzall did not try to “take away” any right by voting. These bills were proposed expansions of abortion policy, and he never said he would automatically support all such expansions – especially when there are good reasons for questioning them.

Disagreement on these policies does not create an excuse for false charges and character assassination. Not even in an election year.

Richard Doerflinger has lived in La Conner for many years.