One of the Republicans angling to succeed Frank Wolf in Virginia’s 10th congressional district is standing by an eye-popping suggestion he made almost a quarter-century ago–that incest can sometimes be voluntary.
Bob Marshall has represented part of Prince William County in the Virginia House of Delegates since 1991, and is one of the most conservative members of that body. But even by Virginia Republican standards, Marshall is a loonytoon. This is a guy who once suggested that God punishes women who have abortions by causing them to bear disabled children later. But The Washington Times dug up a quote that, even by Republican standards, is breathtakingly degrading.
Back in 1989, when Marshall was research director of the American Life League, The Boston Globe asked him why he opposes abortion in all circumstances, even cases of incest. Marshall’s reply? “What if incest is voluntary? Sometimes it is.” Incredibly, Marshall stood by that comment, saying, “It doesn’t make it right or legal. It just gives the facts.”
Marshall also stood by claims that Anthony Kennedy was a closet homosexual because he wrote the Supreme Court opinion that effectively gutted the Defense of Marriage Act. Any other day, this would have been the most offensive statement in that piece. But it is absolutely staggering that an elected official would even suggest that a woman who has already been violated by incest should be subject to the further violation of being forced to keep her child just because what happened to her could have been “voluntary.” And that would be true even if he wasn’t trying to run in a district that is a swing district by any definition. Even though Wolf has held the district without serious difficulty since 1981, given the overwhelming Democratic trend in Northern Virginia it was taken for granted this seat would be very competitive once he retired.
Marshall is one of four candidates running in the April 2014 primary. Suffice to say that if he gets the nomination, given his extreme rhetoric it’s pretty much a guarantee that the Democrats will erase the last smudge of red from Northern Virginia’s congressional map.
Edited/Published by: SB
Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover with several passions–the Lord, the Tar Heels, the Phillies and fighting for lasting change. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus.
