Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, has said a lot of outrageous things during his political career, but none could top his latest claim: that without rape and incest, humanity might not exist.
“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?” he said, according to the Des Moines Register.
King made the startling assertion during a defense of “not allowing exceptions for rape and incest in the anti-abortion legislation he tried to pass in Congress,” the Register says.
King further claimed that he had Republican support for his no-exceptions bills, but was blocked by the GOP House leadership.
“Just because a conception happened in bad circumstances doesn’t mean the result isn’t a person, King, who is Catholic, argued,” says the Register adding that King said “It’s not the baby’s fault for the sin of the father, or of the mother.”
King spoke Wednesday morning to about 50 people at a breakfast meeting of the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale IA.
Along with his abortion bills, he noted another controversy early this year after he seemingly supported white supremacy.
In January, a New York Times article quoted King as saying: “white nationalist, white supremacist … how did that language become offensive?”
King insists, without evidence, that he was misquoted — but, as the Register reports, “high-level Republicans decried King’s comments … and others publicly supported [King’s opponent] in the GOP primary.
King was quickly removed from his House committee assignments by then-Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Later that month, after Democrats took control of the House, lawmakers passed a resolution condemning of white supremacy and white nationalism.
