FARGO – One of the Fargo infertility doctors who spoke out against a state ballot measure is drawing criticism for an online post comparing North Dakota legislators to the Taliban.
On Sept. 30, Kristen Cain, a physician specializing in reproductive endocrinology, wrote on Twitter: “ND lawmakers make Taliban seem positively feminist #VoteNoMeasure1”.
She also mentioned the Taliban in two separate tweets Oct. 2 referencing the controversy over Devils Lake students being shown a clip from “Pretty Woman” during a meeting about the school dress code on yoga pants, leggings and tights.
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Cain said her comments were “mostly relating” to the dress code issue. She said the Taliban, an extremist Islamic movement that formerly ruled Afghanistan, is known for limiting women’s reproductive rights, access to education and what they can wear.
“That’s where I drew the parallel,” she said.
But the Sept. 30 tweet was about Measure 1, she said. Cain and two other doctors offering in vitro fertilization at the Sanford Reproductive Medicine Clinic warned at a news conference Monday that infertility treatment would have to stop if the ballot measure is approved.
“It is a measure that does affect women’s rights,” she said. “It affects women’s rights to many forms of health care, and the one I’m particularly interested in is IVF.”
Approved by the Legislature in 2013 and set to be on the Nov. 4 ballot, Measure 1 would add to the constitution: “The inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and protected.”
Cain’s Sept. 30 tweet was called into question Tuesday, including in a guest post on North Dakota political blog sayanythingblog.com by Janne Myrdal, state director for Concerned Women for America of ND. In the post, Myrdal questioned if Cain understood the level of oppression leveled at women and children under the Taliban, as well as its alignment with other terrorist groups.
Sen. Margaret Sitte, R-Bismarck, one of the sponsors of the 2013 legislation that put Measure 1 on the ballot, said she was “shocked” by Cain’s tweet.
“Dr. Cain should realize that the impact of her language could be very detrimental to other people,” she said. “That is so terrible, and it’s so unjustified.”
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Cain said the Sept. 30 tweet was “something that I wrote a while ago, and a lot more is going on since then.” She’s concentrating on getting the word out about what Measure 1 would mean for access to IVF treatment in the state, she said.
“People have a right to think whatever they think about anything,” she said. “I was offended by Measure 1. I’m offended by people deciding that girls can’t wear comfortable clothes to school. So, everybody has a right to take anything in any context they wish.”
Darren Huber, a spokesperson for Sanford Health in Fargo, said in a written statement that individuals have a right to be heard or to be silent on this issue, whether or not they’re Sanford employees.
“But as an organization Sanford is not taking a position on Measure 1,” he wrote.
