Massachusetts Democrat asked to resign after remarks about abortions, crisis pregnancy centers

A Democrat official in Massachusetts is being asked to resign after raising concerns about crisis pregnancy centers missing a birth defect and the consequential result of the high special education costs for children with disabilities who are not aborted. 

Michael Hugo, the chairman of the Framingham Democratic Committee, made the remarks Feb. 7 during a city council meeting when discussing a proclamation about access to abortion and crisis pregnancy centers in the city.

He said the centers, run by anti-abortion groups as alternative to going to an abortion clinic for an abortion, could misdiagnose a defect in a baby in the womb, leading to them being born and becoming a strain on a school budget.

"Our fear is that if an unqualified sonographer misdiagnoses a heart defect, an organ defect, spina bifida or an encephalopathic defect that becomes a very local issue because our school budget will have to absorb the cost of a child in special education, supplying lots and lots of special services to children, who were born with the defect," he said, according to Fox News.

Hugo issued a public apology, admitting his comments were "offensive and hurtful." However, at least one person has asked for him to resign, amid the public backlash for the comments.

"I think he should immediately step down," said Jon Fetherston, a special needs advocate and registered Massachusetts Republican.

Hugo said members of the committee did not "see or review" his remarks, despite them being sent out the night before the meeting. 

Neither Hugo nor the committee responded to Fox News’ request for comment.

"This is discrimination plain and simple," Kristan Hawkins, the mother of two children with cystic fibrosis and the president of Students for Life, told the news outlet. "I think people who say that the sick cost too much for our society better find the fountain of youth real quick because someday that’s going to be them. It's going to be their family members."