Rep. Ayanna Pressley took a new shot at Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who, during a speech Wednesday in Washington D.C., linked the abortion debate to the conversation of slavery in the 1850s and 60s.

DeVos' comments, first reported by the Colorado Times Recorder, were part of a speech she made at an event hosted for Colorado Christian College students.

"[Lincoln] too contended with the pro-choice arguments of his day. They suggested that a state's choice to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it," DeVos said, according to the Recorder report. "Well, President Lincoln reminded those pro-choicers that is a vast portion of the American people that do not look upon that matter as being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil."


DeVos' statements raised many eyebrows and caught the attention of Pressley, who took to Twitter to issue a challenge to the education secretary's views on the topic.

"As a Black woman & the Chair of the abortion access task force, I invite you to come by the Hill and say this to my face," Pressley said in a tweet. "Would welcome the opportunity to educate you."

The Colorado students at the event were in D.C. to attend the March For Life protest, which is scheduled to take place Friday. The protest will be the first of its kind to have a sitting president address the crowd, with Trump announcing his attendance via Twitter on Wednesday. 

Last year, Pressley praised Massachusetts activists who fought to enact the ROE Act, which would improve youth access to abortion and ensure coverage for abortion, regardless of income or immigration status.

"Even in states like the commonwealth of Massachusetts, which I represent, individuals, particularly low-income and young people, LGBTQ and black and brown folks continue to face barriers in accessing comprehensive reproductive health care. And let me be clear – health care is abortion care," Pressley said from the House at the time.

Pressley recently made news with an announcement of her alopecia diagnosis, revealing her naturally bald head for the first time in recent appearances.

abortion-debateBetsy DevosMarch-for-LifePro ChoiceRep. Ayanna Pressley