HYPOCRISY

Ex-Wife: Judge Who Tried to Thwart Abortion Measure Helped Me Get One

“I’m grateful I had a choice, and I think he’s grateful he had a choice,” she told NBC News.

The ex-wife of a Michigan state judge who voted against an abortion rights measure earlier this year is speaking out against her former spouse as he runs for re-election, revealing that he helped her get an abortion in 1983. Alyssa Jones told NBC News that she was enraged by the hypocrisy of his public stand against abortion, as the procedure enabled him to develop his career. “I’m grateful I had a choice, and I think he’s grateful he had a choice,” she said. Jones explained that when she became pregnant at 20 years old, Zahra made an appointment for her at an abortion clinic in Detroit, drove her to the clinic twice and paid for it. The two never talked about the abortion again and got married in 1987. “I never disagreed with it, I didn’t feel like he was strong-arming me,” Jones said. “I do remember talking during the procedure, saying, ‘You know, we just need to finish school, we’re not ready to have a family, we need to finish school.’” In September, Zahra voted against Proposal 3, a Michigan ballot initiative that would guarantee abortion rights in the state’s constitution, arguing that there was not enough spacing between a few words on the pro-abortion rights groups’ petition. It passed anyway and will be on the ballot Nov. 8. Two weeks after he wrote the opposing opinion, super PAC Right to Life of Michigan Victory Fund paid almost $10,000 to help him with his re-campaign, according to state campaign finance records.