Aug 14, 2019

Steve King: "Would there be any population" without rape or incest?

Photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) defended banning abortion with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest on Wednesday by arguing that most of the world wouldn't exist without rape or incest, reports the Des Moines Register.

"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that? Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can't say that I was not a part of a product of that."

The big picture: The abortion debate has been heating up in recent months as a wave of red states have successfully passed stricter abortion laws, setting up a possible Supreme Court challenge to Roe v. Wade. Alabama passed one of the strictest abortion laws in the country in May, banning abortion for victims of sexual assault and threatening to jail doctors who go through with the procedure, reports the Washington Post.

King, whose history of racist comments has prompted some Republicans in the House to push for his ouster, has proposed multiple bills in Congress that would ban abortion even in the case of rape or incest, per the Des Moines Register.

Go deeper: Where abortion restrictions stand: The states that have passed laws

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Axios

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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

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97,000 children test positive for coronavirus in two weeks

A boy has his temperature checked as he receives a free COVID-19 test in South Los Angeles in July. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

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Why it matters: The findings in the report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association comes as schools and day cares look to reopen in the U.S., with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announcing Friday that school districts in the state can reopen in the fall amid lower coronavirus transmission rates.

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Updated 3 hours ago - World

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai arrested under national security law

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong in June. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has been arrested for "collusion with foreign powers," said Mark Simon, an executive at the tycoon's media firm Next Digital Monday morning local time.

Why it matters: He was arrested under the new national security law that gives Beijing more powers over the former British colony. Lai is the most prominent person arrested under the law, which prompted the U.S. to sanction Chinese officials, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, over Beijing's efforts to strip the territory of its autonomy.