Indiana Lt. Gov. proposes death penalty as condition for abortion access for assault victims
Christian Nationalist Micah Beckwith suggested victims of sexual abuse should only be allowed to get abortions if their assailants are executed
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Christian Nationalist Micah Beckwith, the Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, has a long history of saying things that go over great on podcasts hosted by fellow Christian Nationalists but have no business being uttered when you’re one of the top government officials in your state.
He’s said the LGBTQ movement is operating out of a “demonic playbook,” that the infamous three-fifths compromise was “a good thing,” and that his own election was a choice between “godly boldness" and "the Jezebel spirit.” He has also argued that people who advocate for church/state separation are “the LGBTQ community trying to support Hamas.”
He’s said on his own campaign website that one of his goals is teaching people the “importance of protecting life at all stages.”
But he has a bizarre way of showing that when it comes to abortion.
Beckwith recently appeared on the “Shively & Shoulders” program on WNIN, a PBS member station in Evansville, and was asked about his “pro-life” stance. Did he agree with a fellow Republican that even child victims of sexual assault should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term?
Of course not, Beckwith responded. He would allow exceptions to anti-abortion laws in the case of child rape victims… but only on one condition: The rapist had to be murdered.
"Now the justice system will carry out justice on that man for ending an innocent life, bringing an innocent life into the world and then ending that life," Beckwith declared. "Now there's justice, and I've always said I would be OK with that."
"But that's the stipulation," he continued. "I want to make sure that that person who does the rape and causes the killing of that child in the womb is prosecuted justly for that."
There are a number of problems with his fantasy scenario.
The obvious one is that the death penalty in Indiana is only an option in certain murder cases. As horrific as sexual assault is, it’s not a crime for which the death penalty could even apply. When the hosts brought that up, dollar-store Seth MacFarlane simply brushed it off and said the law should be changed. (“That's what I would want… Bring justice. I want justice.”)
It would also take a tragic situation and make it worse. I imagine many victims of sexual assault have enough trauma to deal with when terminating that pregnancy; the last thing they need weighing on their conscience is the knowledge that the only way to obtain that abortion is if another person is killed in the process. For people who oppose the death penalty, Beckwith’s proposal gives them no solace whatsoever since he’d be making them choose between complicity in state-sanctioned murder or forced birth against their will.
And since the timelines for an abortion and executing someone are completely different, what happens if, after the woman obtains the abortion, the death penalty case against the father falls apart? Would the mother then be punished in some capacity?
It’s completely heartless. It’s illogical. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a conservative Christian who’s never thought through the implications of his cruel policies.
This is why you don’t elect right-wing extremists to positions of power. The people in the state are always worse off when wannabe theocrats are given free rein to control other people’s lives.
Luckily for women in Indiana, those who are able can always travel to neighboring Illinois where reproductive rights are protected because that state didn’t elect Christian nutcases to run the government.
(via Right Wing Watch)
Xtians won't have a rapist executed when they can elect them to office.
First thought: that makes no sense whatsoever. However heinous the rape was, the rapist generally isn't the one making the abort decision. Now if we're talking some 'sex trafficked and force fed an abortifacent in a state where foetuses count as citizens,' okay, that's murder. But he's not limiting his position to that.
Second thought: oooh, that's right, these people don't recognize that women have agency. They think the rapist is responsible for the decision because to them, the woman victim is just a passive piece of meat with no decision-making power, as thoughtless as a flower wilting in the heat.