Republican candidate calls aborting rapist's child "more violence on woman's body"
another rep anti-abortion after rape, claims instances of incest rare
OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - Tea Party politician John Koster, the Republican nominee for a hotly contested congressional seat in Washington state, says he opposes abortions, even in cases of "the rape thing," because it is tantamount to inflicting "more violence onto a woman's body."
The Snohomish County councilman made the comments during a weekend fundraising appearance in the Puget Sound city of Everett, north of Seattle, that was captured in a recording released on Wednesday by the liberal activist group Fuse Washington.
Long known as an opponent of abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, Koster was asked if there were any circumstances under which he would approve of terminating a pregnancy.
"When a mother's life is in danger ... I'm not going to make that decision," he replied, before going on to talk about incest and rape.
"Incest is so rare, I mean, it's so rare. But the rape thing, you know, I know a woman who was raped and kept her child, gave it up for adoption. She doesn't regret it. In fact, she is a big pro-life proponent," he said in the recording.
He continued by asking a rhetorical question: "But on the rape thing, it's like, how does putting more violence onto a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's a consequence of this crime, how does that make it better?"
The remarks drew sharp criticism from the campaign of his Democratic foe, former Microsoft executive and state revenue director Suzan DelBene - a spokesman said it showed Koster to be "out of touch" - and from abortion-rights supporters.
"There are far too many extreme politicians out there that are trying to be involved in a woman's personal medical decisions about her pregnancy," Sara Kiesler of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
http://news.yahoo.com/republican-can...-more-violence
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