Mike Huckabee Confirms He Would Force a Ten-Year-Old Girl to Give Birth to the Child of Her Rapist

For Immediate Release: Aug. 26, 2015

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Latest in a String of Exceptionally Cruel Policy Stances by Republican Presidential Candidates

 

Washington, DC — Today, on CNN’s State of the Union, Mike Huckabee confirmed that if he were president, he would support policies that would force a ten-year-old girl who was raped by her stepfather to carry the pregnancy to term, despite possible risks to her health, the fact that she was a minor, or that she was a survivor of both rape and incest.

This is the latest in a string of exceptionally cruel positions on women’s health taken by Republican presidential candidates:

• Scott Walker confirmed in the first GOP debate that, if elected president, he would support policies that allow a woman to die rather than permit her to access abortion.

• Marco Rubio also confirmed that if elected president, he too would support policies that do not allow women who had been raped or became pregnant because of incest to access abortion.

• Ben Carson today, on both ABC and Fox, left the door open for support for policies that would force a woman who had been raped or became pregnant because of incest to carry her pregnancy to term.

 

Statement from Eric Ferrero, Vice President of Communications for Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“We’re getting a taste of what America would look like if one of these men were elected president — and it’s one where if they have their way, a woman has no option of accessing a safe and legal abortion, even if she became pregnant as the result of a rape.

"American voters have no appetite for this kind of heartless rhetoric — indeed more than three-quarters of the general public wants abortion to remain safe and legal. We’ve seen this before — in 2012 this issue helped cost Mitt Romney the election via one of the biggest electoral gender gaps in history. The truth is that the more extreme Republican candidates become, the more they show just how harmful they’d be to women across the country — and the more votes they lose."

 

FACT: A majority of Americans support access to safe, legal abortion.

• More Americans now consider themselves pro-choice than pro-life. [VOX, 5/12/15]

• 68 percent of Millennials don't want to see Roe v. Wade overturned. [Pew Research Center, 1/16/13]

• Two-thirds (67 percent) of African Americans believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. [Public Religion Research Institute, 7/26/12]

• A 2012 exit poll results show two-thirds of Latinos agreed abortion should be legal (66 vs. 28 percent who disagreed). In fact, Latino voters were more supportive of legal abortion than voters overall (59 percent overall supported legal abortion vs. 37 who disagreed). [ABC News, 11/6/12]

• 72 percent of Republicansthink abortion should be available. [New York Times/CBS News Poll, 2/14]

 

FACT: Women’s health was a deciding issue in the 2012 presidential election.

• In 2012, Hart Research found that Mitt Romney and many Republican candidates’ views on women’s health were not only out of step with the majority of voters — they cost those Republicans in the election. [Hart Research, 12/5/12]

• 62 percent of all voters disagreed with Romney’s position to end funding for Planned Parenthood’s health services, including 66 percent of women voters. [Hart Research, 12/5/12]

• 61 percent of all voters (including 63 percent of women voters) disagreed with Romney’s position to overturn Roe v. Wade. [Hart Research, 12/5/12]

 

FACT: In Virginia in 2013, women’s health was a deciding factor.

• “Democrat Terry McAuliffe won the Virginia’s governor’s race narrowly on the strength of women’s votes, by an eight-point margin–slimmer than several polls had predicted…[B]ecause African-American, Latina, and unmarried women turned out in numbers close to Barack Obama’s 2012 election, McAuliffe won women overall–and with them, the election. He also won 59% of the votes of people who said abortion was the most important issue to them, who made up 20% of the electorate.” [MSNBC, 11/5/13]

 

FACT: Support for women’s health is still a deciding issue for voters in swing states.

• A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research survey commissioned by NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood in four key battleground states (CO, IA, NH, NC) found that a candidate’s support of or opposition to women’s health was one of the most persuasive issues for voters. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

• The most persuasive reason to vote against a candidate was the charge that he or she “opposes a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion in all circumstances, including rape, incest, and when the health of the woman is in danger.” [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

• Nearly six in ten voters reported that protecting women’s access to health care was a very important issue to them in deciding how to vote. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]

• 86 percent said protecting women's access to cancer screenings and birth control was an important issue in their voting decision — just as important as education and Social Security/Medicare. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 11/11/14]