‘No Evil’ In Forcing Raped Teen To Carry Baby To Term: Lawmaker

NASHVILLE, TN — A Tennessee lawmaker has fanned the flames on abortion — a key issue for evangelical conservatives considering legislation that could challenge the landmark Roe v. Wade decision — with a suggestion there’s “no evil” in requiring a 15-year-old girl who'd been raped and impregnated by her coach or teacher to carry the baby.

The hypothetical scenario was presented in opposition to an amendment to the state’s abortion law presented by Jonesborough Republican Rep. James Van Huss. The amendment would restrict abortion after a heartbeat is detected, around six weeks of pregnancy and, abortion rights advocates say, before many women realize they are pregnant.

Rep. Vincent Dixie, a Democrat and father of two daughters, said he couldn’t support the bill because he believes the termination of a pregnancy is a matter best decided by women, their families and physicians, not the government. Dixie posed the hypothetical question about the rape and impregnation of a 15-year-old girl by a school teacher or coach, who then had to carry the baby to term while trying to finish high school, where she would see the rapist daily.

As Newsweek reported, Van Huss responded:

“You asked if I could find the evil in the scenario. I cannot because the evil I find is what you left out. I don’t believe it’s right to rip an innocent baby limb from limb.”

Van Huss didn’t back down under further questioning by Rep. Barbara Cooper, a Memphis Democrat who said the amendment should include exceptions for women are impregnated in a rape, the Johnson City Press reported. The proposed amendment does include exceptions if the mother’s life is in danger.

“In my estimation — I’m not a doctor, but I am a woman — I would not want anybody to attack me, (then) rape me and I become pregnant. And I can’t make a choice about whether I want to carry (it). That’s a woman’s choice,” Cooper said.

Van Huss responded: “When you talk about being a woman and me not being a woman, I don’t need to be a woman to know evil when I see it,” Van Huss said. “Surely, you don’t want to murder babies.”

Van Huss did not immediately return Patch’s request for comment. We’ll update this story if further information becomes available.

Rep. Matthew Hill, A Jonesborough Republican, called the debate over which lives have more valuable — babies born of consensual sex or those born out of rape — “sick and twisted,” the Johnson City Press reported.

“All lives matter,” he said. “If someone rapes someone, that person should be put under the jail forever ... Why does that same attitude then have to apply to an innocent person? In this case, the unborn child. The unborn child has not done anything wrong. The unborn child has not performed any acts of violence or malice towards their fellow man. That unborn child has the right to live, to survive and hopefully by God’s grace, to thrive.”

The proposed fetal heartbeat amendment, which has at least 51 House cosponsors, cleared the House Health Committee Tuesday. As currently written, it would would ban all abortions once a pregnancy is viable — not when the fetus becomes viable, which the law now says occurs at 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Doctors who perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected could be criminally charged with a Class C felony and face fines and punishment of up to $10,000 and 15 years in prison.

If Van Huss’s proposed is approved, legal abortion would effectively become illegal in Tennessee — a tactic that could provide a path for the U.S. Supreme Court to to undermine, or outright overturn, Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure in all 50 states.

Looking ahead to a likely legal challenge if the Tennessee amendment is adopted, Rep. Larry Miller, a Democrat, tried to attach a provision stating that taxpayer money couldn’t be used to defend it unless it was appropriate for that specific purpose.

Van Huss, an ardent abortion foe, said the Tennessee Legislature “owes it to our taxpayers to use every available resource to save babies’ lives” and introduced a motion to table Miller’s amendment, which was approved by the Health Committee.