An Alaska lawmaker asked about 'cost savings' in cases of fatal child abuse. He was just censured.
An Alaska lawmaker was censured by his fellow representatives on Wednesday after asking about an argument that cases of fatal child abuse can lead to “cost savings” because the child will not seek public services later in their life.
Alaska’s House voted 35-1 to censure state Rep. David Eastman, a Republican. Eastman was the single dissenting vote.
The Republican lawmaker’s comments came during a Monday committee hearing about adverse childhood experiences. Experts told state lawmakers during the hearing about how child abuse can have long-term effects on a person’s health, financial wellbeing and other factors.
Adverse childhood experiences are “potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood,” such as experiencing violence or neglect, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As part of the hearing, lawmakers received documents that included estimated costs to a family or broader community when child abuse is fatal, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Eastman on Monday asked, “How would you respond to the argument that I have heard on occasion where, in the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of that child’s life?”
'She had to carry it out for him': Charges reduced for Florida woman who shot terminally ill husband
Nation: She was murdered in 1983. Nearly 40 years later, the suspect has been ID'd in Michigan teen's death.
'Atrocious and indefensible'
Trevor Storrs, president and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust, asked Eastman to repeat his question, saying “Did you say ‘a benefit for society?’”
“It gets argued periodically that it’s actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and need based on growing up in this type of environment,” Eastman responded.
Storrs said he wasn’t sure how to answer “that there’s a cost saving to the death of a child. The impact that that has on a family and us as a society when a child is lost, especially to child abuse and neglect, is unmeasurable.”
Eastman’s comments also immediately garnered a response from his fellow legislators during the Monday hearing.
Alaska Rep. Cliff Groh, a Democrat who asked questions after Eastman, said he was “disturbed by the recent line of questioning."
State Rep. Andrew Gray, a Democrat, said later in the hearing that he had an “intense reaction to something that was said earlier.” He shared that he adopted his child through the foster system, and the child had adverse childhood experiences.
“What I heard was that there would be a cost savings if a child with a high ACEs score didn't survive, and I would just say that, for me personally, my child is the greatest joy I have ever had, that there is no price tag on that.”
Gray brought the censure motion on Wednesday and called Eastman’s language “atrocious” and “indefensible.”
Not the first censure for Eastman
After the motion was introduced, Eastman said Grey had impugned his motives and beliefs.
“The outrageous accusation that somehow I and members of my district support the extermination of people or support child abuse when I’ve staked my entire political career arguing for the opposite is not acceptable in this body,” he said.
Eastman was previously censured in 2017 for comments he made that suggested some people in Alaska might try to get pregnant for a “free trip to the city” to have an abortion.
A state judge also ruled last year that Eastman, who has ties to the far-right group the Oath Keepers, is eligible to hold office. The ruling found that he is a member of the group, but that he “does not and did not possess a specific intent to further the Oath Keeper’s words or actions aimed at overthrowing the United States government.”
The lawmaker has also said he was in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021 to attend a speech by then-President Donald Trump. However, he said he did not participate in the riot in the Capitol Building, and he has not been accused of any crimes in connection to the insurrection.
Contributing: Associated Press