A radical anti-abortion bill was the source of heated debate in the Oklahoma House last week when Oklahoma representative George Faught was pressed on whether or not rape and incest is the will of God. Faught’s bill, which passed in the House and is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate, seeks to punish doctors who perform abortions in cases of “Down Syndrome or a genetic abnormality,” even if the pregnancy is the result of incest or rape. Fines can climb to $100,00 for doctors who violate the prohibition, and women who have had abortions can file civil lawsuits against their doctor who performed it.
In a video posted on the Huffington Post, Rep. Cory Williams, a Democrat, asked Faught, “Representative, is rape the will of God?”
Faught replied, “Well, you know, if you read the Bible, there’s actually a couple circumstances where that happened, and the Lord uses all circumstances. I mean, you can go down that path, but it’s a reality, unfortunately.”
“Is incest the will of God?” Williams followed up.
“Same answer. Doesn’t deal with this bill,” Faught replied.
“With all due respect, I think it absolutely is on point,” Williams said. “You won’t make any exceptions for rape, you won’t make any exceptions for incest in this, and you are proffering divine intervention as the reason why you won’t do that, and so I think it is very important. This body wants to know, myself personally, whether you believe rape and incest are actually the will of God.”
Faught replied, “It’s a great question to ask, and, obviously if it happens in someone’s life, it may not be the best thing that ever happened. But, so you’re saying that God is not sovereign with every activity that happens in someone’s life and can’t use anything and everything in someone’s life, and I disagree with that.”
Faught later issued a written statement to local NBC station KFOR.
Life, no matter how it is conceived, is valuable and something to be protected. Let me be clear, God never approves of rape or incest. However, even in the worst circumstances, God can bring beauty from ashes.
