Henry Aldridge

Who is Henry Aldridge?

Marvin Warren "Henry" Aldridge was a dentist and member of the North Carolina House of Representatives.

A native of Craven County, North Carolina, he moved to Greenville in the 1940s, and obtained his undergraduate degree from East Carolina University. He received his dental degree from the Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry in 1950. Aldridge practiced as a dentist in Greenville, North Carolina for 50 years.

Aldridge served on the Greenville City Council for a number of terms, and was elected to the North Carolina House in 1994, defeating Democratic incumbent Charles McLawhorn. He achieved notoriety in 1995 when he asserted that rape victims could not get pregnant. In the context of a debate regarding whether the state should stop funding abortions for poor women, he stated, "The facts show that people who are raped, who are truly raped, the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work, and they don't get pregnant." He later stated that his comments were "stupid." Aldridge's 1995 comments were revisited in August 2012, in light of controversy surrounding U.S. Senate Candidate Todd Akin's similar comments.