Congressman Steve King (R-IA) has again found himself at the center of controversy after describing his opposition to abortion in the case of rape and incest. At a conservative forum in Iowa, King questioned if there would “be any population of the world left” if it were not for rape and incest. His comment drew swift condemnation from top House Republicans, with at least one calling for him to resign.
This latest controversy is far from the first time that King’s extremist beliefs have sparked outrage. In 2017, for example, King asserted that “we can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies” and advocated for a version of the US “that is so homogenous that we look a lot the same.” In January 2019, House Republicans stripped King of his House committee assignments after he doubled down on his racist rhetoric in a New York Times interview, stating, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
It is long overdue for Republicans to call for Steve King’s resignation. King’s appalling sexism and open endorsements of racism and white supremacy belong in the past, not in the halls of Congress. Demand your members of Congress call for King’s resignation.