The Ohio Republican state lawmaker who recently came under fire for promoting her version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill is now being highly criticized after advocating that women – and even girls – who are raped be forced to give birth to the child of the man who raped them – even if that man is her father.
Her reasoning?
Abortion will not heal the emotional scars of rape.
GOP state Rep. Jean Schmidt is pushing her legislation that “would ban nearly all abortions in Ohio,” according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
“House Bill 598, which Schmidt introduced, would ban most abortion in Ohio,” the Journal reports. “Current Ohio law allows for abortions up to six weeks after a woman’s last period. The proposed legislation does not provide exceptions for pregnancies conceived by rape or incest.”
On Wednesday she told her fellow lawmakers “there is an opportunity” for a woman who has been raped, “no matter how young or old she is, to make a determination about what she’s going to do to help that life be a productive human being.”
In the U.S., according to Live Science, most girls biologically can get pregnant and give birth as early as 11 or 12 – that’s generally 6th or 7th grade.
Rep. Schmidt also said a rapist’s child should not under any circumstances be aborted because they could be the person who cures cancer. There are many other outcomes, especially for an unwanted child, one could imagine.
Criticism against Schmidt has been strong.
“We’re supposed to have a Constitution & courts so people like this can’t force their views on others,” wrote law professor and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance.
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This article has been updated to clarify the legislation would ban nearly all, but not entirely all abortion in Ohio.