GOP Candidate Proposes ‘Community-Level Review Process’ for Rape Survivors Who Want Abortions

“Local political leaders,” meet “community-level review process.”

A week after Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate nominee Mehmet Oz said local political leaders should have a say in whether abortions are permitted, we’re learning that the GOP nominee for a North Carolina House seat wants community members to review pregnant people’s abortion requests on a case-by-case basis—only if they’re survivors of rape or incest. Everyone else is out of luck.

Bo Hines, the 27-year-old Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 13th congressional district, explained his stance in an October interview with WRAL. (Christina Reynolds of EMILY’s List unearthed the interview on Tuesday.)

“Hines thinks abortion should be unlawful except in cases where a mother’s life is at risk. He wants victims of rape and incest to be allowed to get an abortion on a case-by-case basis through a community-level review process outside the jurisdiction of the federal government.”

Hines made similar comments in an on-camera interview with WRAL on October 1, when he said about rape and incest: “You have to look at each individual case and look at each individual circumstance and see what happens there.”

The Democratic nominee in the race is state Sen. Wiley Nickel, who supports codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade into law.

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Hines, who is the beneficiary of a trust fund set up by his parents. Hines has loaned at least $775,000 to his campaign from the trust fund. Despite his financial situation, Hines has repeatedly made comments about how inflation is the equivalent of one month’s salary for the average American, and he and his wife can’t afford to give up one month’s salary. Hines does not have a salary.

Hines is one of several Republican candidates who have tried to backtrack on their abortion positions as they pivoted from their primaries to the general election. The 19th News explained that, sometime between May and August, Hines “removed his ‘life and family’ issues section from his website, which previously linked to a fundraising page touting his belief ‘that life begins at conception and that we must protect the rights of the unborn.’”