Missouri Senate Candidate: Even Teens Pregnant from Incest Shouldn’t Be Able to Get Abortions

Missouri Republican Senate candidate Mark McCloskey said he doesn’t “believe in any exceptions” when it comes to abortion— even for teenage rape and incest victims.

McCloskey’s reasoning? While working as an attorney, he once represented a 13-year-old rape survivor whose life wasn’t ended by having to give birth to her uncle’s child.

“We were down in Poplar Bluff a couple of months ago, and somebody asked me that question, ‘So you would force a 13-year-old who’s raped by a family member to keep that baby?’” McCloskey told the audience at a forum put on by Citizens for a Better Camden County. “And I said, ‘Yes, and more than that I’ve got that client.’ I’ve got a client who was raped by an uncle when she was 13 years old, had the child; she finished high school, finished college and got a master’s degree. That child she would have aborted finished high school, finished college and now has a master’s degree.”

Uhh? I’m glad this person and their kid turned out okay, but it’s wrong to base policy on one person’s not completely shitty outcome? I feel comfortable in my belief that that 13-year-old would rather have not been raped, but I’m not a politician in a state that’s tried to ban abortion at 8 weeks.

McCloskey is the only latest Missouri politician with archaic views on abortion. In 2012, as Missouri Rep. Todd Akin was attempting to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, Akin said he opposes all abortion because rape does not lead to pregnancy and people who are “legitimately raped” can’t physically get pregnant.

Charming! And extremely false.

McCloskey and his wife, Patricia, became conservative darlings in the summer 2020 when they pointed guns at anti-racist protesters who were marching near their house in St. Louis. Not only did McCloskey have a rifle, he also wore a stained shirt, suggesting he just could not wait to get outside with his firearm.

The couple later spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention and pled guilty to misdemeanor charges and agreed to hand over their guns stemming from the incident.

Not only does he have horrific views on bodily autonomy, but McCloskey got a new rifle.