The general counsel for prominent anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said that the 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio that was forced to travel to Indiana to get an abortion should have had the baby.
Jim Bopp, an Indiana attorney who authored model legislation for states to adopt when Roe was overturned, told Politico that his law banned all abortions except in cases where the life of the mother is in danger.
He said the 10-year-old child “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.”
“Unless her life was at danger, there is no exception for rape,” Bopp said. “The bill does propose exceptions for rape and incest, in my model, because that is a pro-life position, but it’s not our ideal position. We don’t think, as heartwrenching as those circumstances are, we don’t think we should devalue the life of the baby because of the sins of the father.”
Abortion is currently legal in Indiana up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. But the state legislature is expected to meet later this month to consider legislation to ban abortions.
The 10-year-old rape victim was forced to travel from Ohio to Indiana for the abortion because Ohio banned the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy following the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Gerson Fuentes,27, was charged with rape in connection with the case.
