Gov. Mike Huckabee
yesterday told CNN that Paraguay was right to force a 10-year-old raped by her stepfather to carry the baby to term. 

While Huckabee was governor, in 1996, he attempted to deny Medicaid funds for a 15-year-old girl’s abortion (the girl had the procedure prior Huckabee getting involved), in defiance of a federal judge. The girl was impregnated by her stepfather, who was charged with incest. From the New York Times story in 1996

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Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas today refused to authorize a Medicaid payment for an abortion for a 15-year-old girl whose stepfather has been charged with incest, despite a Federal judge’s order that such payments were required by Federal law.

Through a spokesman, Mr. Huckabee said his first obligation was to obey the Arkansas State Constitution, rather than Federal law. The State Constitution includes an amendment banning the use of public money for abortion except when a mother’s life is endangered; the Federal statute requires that Medicaid pay for abortions that are performed on poor women in cases of rape or incest or a threat to the mother’s life.

According to Max’s more recent recounting of the events, the victim was developmentally disabled, although this detail is not mentioned in the Times story above. 

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