Tim Michels Says The Pregnancy of a 12 Year-Old Rape Victim Was “Created By God”
MADISON, Wis. — In a 2004 WPR interview, Tim Michels said he supports forcing a 12 year old rape victim to give birth, and would tell her her pregnancy was “created by god.”
Michels: “I think in the end what I would try to tell them is that there’s a life in there, a life that was created by God and if you carry that baby to full term there will be 25 or 35 couples that will be there, willing and ready to adopt that baby and love it and raise it as their own. So that’s where my position is on this and I make no excuses for being pro-life.”
Michels has long supported a restrictive, no-exception abortion policy for decades, and this has been made clear on the campaign trail as well. He has called the 1849 law that includes no exceptions for rape or incest an “exact mirror” of his position and said he will not “soften” his stance.
Michels has also put his money where his mouth is, donating thousands of dollars to organizations that seek to ban abortion with no exceptions while his family’s foundation gave thousands more to a group that tracks the cell phones of women visiting Planned Parenthood clinics. One group backed by Michels also supports controversial tactics like sidewalk harassment of women seeking abortions and has sought to eliminate the life-of-the-mother exception from the 1849 ban, and ban all contraception and IVF.
“Tim Michels’ anti-abortion agenda is a deeply held view he’s had going back decades,” said Rapid Response Director Hannah Menchhoff. “Is Michels the governor you think will protect your access to safe abortions? Absolutely not.”
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