A Republican Missouri Senate candidate said last week that teenagers who become pregnant as a result of incest or rape should be denied abortions, saying he does not “believe in any exceptions.”
Mark McCloskey made the statement after being asked about politicians who are anti-abortion and support exceptions for rape and incest, The Kansas City Star reported.
McCloskey is perhaps most well known for an incident in which he and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching down their neighborhood street.
“We were down in Poplar Bluff a couple of months ago, and somebody asked me that question, ‘So you would force a 13-year-old who’s raped by a family member to keep that baby?’” McCloskey, a personal injury lawyer, said at a forum.
“And I said, ‘Yes, and more than that I’ve got that client.’ I’ve got a client who was raped by an uncle when she was 13 years old, had the child; she finished high school, finished college and got a master’s degree. That child she would have aborted finished high school, finished college and now has a master’s degree,” he added.
McCloskey did not say whether he would support an exception if the pregnancy threatened the life of the mother.
According to the newspaper, outgoing Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt (R) said he was “trying to stay out of the Senate race” when asked about McCloskey’s comment, but he said he supports exceptions for rape, incest and to save the mother’s life.
Missouri passed a law banning abortions at eight weeks in 2019 with no exceptions made for incest or rape, but the law has been barred from being implemented by a federal court.
In June, the McCloskeys pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and agreed to pay a $750 fine in relation to pointing a gun at protesters. However, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) pardoned the couple in August.