The reality TV-star father of Josh Duggar, who recently admitted to molesting his sisters and other young girls when he was a teenager, said 13 years ago that rape should be punishable by death.
Jim Bob Duggar, who plays the real-life dad in the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting," unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in 2002. His son
Josh, who is now 27, admitted last week to
sexually molesting young girls during his teenage years.
TLC has since
suspended airing new episodes of the show as it determines what course of action it will take.
Jim Bob Duggar, who was a member of the Arkansas state House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002, said on his campaign website 13 years ago when he ran for a U.S. Senate seat that he was against abortion and also took a strong stand against rape and incest.
"If a woman is raped, the rapist should be executed instead of the innocent unborn baby," he said,
according to Gawker. "Adoption is an option. Many couples would love to adopt and are waiting for a baby. Abortion has been and always will be the destruction of an innocent child."
"Rape and incest represent heinous crimes and as such should be treated as capital crimes. The developing infant committed no crime and should be allowed to live. In the unlikely event that the life of both mother and baby would both be lost (for example, a tubal pregnancy) all should be done to save the life of the mother."
Advertisers are pulling their sponsorship of the TV show and the Duggars have
taken down their official website in the wake of Josh Duggar's admission.
He also decided not to attend a homeschooling convention this week, where he was slated to deliver the keynote address.
Josh Duggar resigned his position on the Family Research Council, as well.
In 2008, Josh Duggar
made a joke about incest during one episode of the show, which has taken on new meaning in the wake of his public admission.
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