The top attorney for the far-right anti-abortion group National Right to Life Committee says the 10-year old Ohio girl forced to travel to Indiana to obtain an abortion after being raped should have given birth to her rapist’s baby.
James Bopp, Jr. (photo), who worked to try to help overturn the 2020 election results by filing lawsuits favoring Donald Trump, is general counsel for National Right to Life. He tells Politico the model legislation he drafted and is attempting to have states pass would have banned the child rape victim from being able to have an abortion – adding he would hope she understands.
“She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child,” Bopp said.
Bopp “told Politico on Thursday that his law only provides exceptions when the pregnant person’s life is in danger.”
That comes as some on experts are noting that “life of the mother” restrictions may be even more draconian – and subject to interpretation of law enforcement authorities or others – than previously understood.
Referring to the case of the 10-year-old child, attorney Ken White says “some people suggest that they’re relying on the exception for protecting the life of the mother,” to allow her to have an abortion in her home state of Ohio.
“But that strikes me as a grave risk for anyone involved in the abortion,” he adds, “in that it relies on prosecutors agreeing that the abortion is ‘necessary’ to prevent the death of ‘risk of serious and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function’ of the 10 year old.”
“Since some heartbreakingly young children do, in fact, give birth and survive,” White continues, “are we really going to trust prosecutors, in THIS environment, with plenty of ‘medical experts’ out there ready to take money to testify however prosecutors want, not to charge doctors over this? The doctor is supposed to take that risk?”