Ron Paul told Piers Morgan on Friday that he would support a woman’s right to an abortion in cases of “honest rape” and suggested that some women lie about undergoing the horrific crime in order to terminate their pregnancies. Paul went on to argue that women should not have the right to abort a “nine-pound baby,” despite the fact that 90 percent of all abortions occur within the first trimester:
MORGAN: But it’s a dilemma that I am going to put to you. You have two daughters. You have many granddaughters. If one of them was raped — and I accept it’s a very unlikely thing to happen. But if they were, would you honestly look at them in the eye and say they had to have that child if they were impregnated?
PAUL: No. If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room. I would give them a shot of estrogen or give them —
MORGAN: You would allow them to abort the baby?
PAUL: It is absolutely in limbo, because an hour after intercourse or a day afterwards, there is no legal or medical problem. If you talk about somebody coming in and they say, well, I was raped and I’m seven months pregnant and I don’t want to have anything to do with it, it’s a little bit different story.
But somebody arriving in an emergency room saying, I have just been raped and there is no chemical — there’s no medical and there’s no legal evidence of a pregnancy —
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Unfortunately, the Texas Congressman has a long history of dismissing women’s claims of sexual harassment. In his 1987 book, “Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution after 200-Plus Years,” Paul suggested that victims of sexual harassment should simply quit their jobs, writing, “Employee rights are said to be valid when employers pressure employees into sexual activity. Why don’t they quit once the so-called harassment starts? Obviously the morals of the harasser cannot be defended, but how can the harassee escape some responsibility for the problem? Seeking protection under civil rights legislation is hardly acceptable.” (HT: C&L;)