- Jim Bopp said the 10-year-old Ohio rape victim who sought an abortion should have kept her baby.
- Bopp argued against devaluing "the life of the baby because of the sins of the father."
- He wished the child would "understand the reason and ultimately the benefit" of keeping her baby.
An Indiana lawyer behind a restrictive proposed abortion law in Indiana said he thought the 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who crossed state lines to obtain an abortion should have kept the baby.
Speaking to Politico on Thursday, Jim Bopp, a lawyer for the National Right to Life Committee who helped draft model abortion legislation for Indiana, said his proposal would have allowed exceptions only for pregnant persons whose lives are in danger.
Referring to the 10-year-old, Bopp said: "She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child."
The child was forced to cross state lines to seek care after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that led to the recognition of a pregnant person's 14th Amendment right to an abortion.
The girl, originally from Ohio — where abortion is banned after six weeks of pregnancy — traveled to Indiana, where abortion is currently legal for up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The incident caused a further uproar when it came to light that the girl had been raped and that a 27-year-old man had been charged with the crime.
"Unless her life was at danger, there is no exception for rape," Bopp told Politico. "We don't think, as heartwrenching as those circumstances are, we don't think we should devalue the life of the baby because of the sins of the father."
Per the Indianapolis Star, Bopp's model law bans abortions in all circumstances except when the pregnant person faces imminent death. It also proposes making the provision of abortions as well as the selling and distribution of abortion pills a felony.
Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the doctor who performed the procedure on the 10-year-old, told the Indianapolis Star that the girl was six weeks and three days pregnant when the abortion was performed.
Politicians in Indiana have signaled that they intend to impose further restrictions on the procedure. Bernard is also now facing an investigation from Indiana's attorney general Todd Rokita, who said his office is "gathering evidence" on the case, calling Bernard an "abortion activist acting as a doctor."
However, The Washington Post reported that records show the girl's abortion had been reported by the doctor before the legally-mandated deadline, per state procedure.