Republican senatorial candidate Kathy Barnette late Wednesday said she is the “byproduct of a rape” as contenders for Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate seat sparred over their pro-life stances.
Ms. Barnette, an Army veteran, made the comment as she attacked rival GOP candidate Mehmet Oz as insufficiently pro-life amid the fallout over a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that could undo the right to abortion established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
“I am the byproduct of a rape,” Ms. Barnette said, according to Fox News. “My mother was 11 years old when I was conceived. My father was 21. I was not just a lump of cells. As you can see, I’m still not just a lump of cells. My life has value.”
Ms. Barnett is also vying with former Treasury Undersecretary David McCormick ahead of the May 17 Republican primary.
However, it is Mr. Oz — a celebrity doctor who hosted the long-running daytime talk show “The Dr. Oz Show” — who has won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
Ms. Barnette said she was “very disturbed when I saw Mehmet Oz running for this particular race, when I’ve seen him on numerous occasions, and specifically at ’The Breakfast Club,’ saying that my life was nothing more than an acorn with electrical current.”
SEE ALSO: Oz, Trump’s candidate, stuck in neck-and-neck GOP race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
Mr. Oz, in the 2019 interview with the syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club,” questioned strict abortion limits, citing women who attempted to seek abortions outside of formal clinics and suffered injuries. He was also critical of pro-life advocates who insist life starts at conception.
“I am wondering if the doctor has now since changed his position on that,” Ms. Barnette added. “My life is valuable and so are the many lives that find themselves in the womb of their mother.”
During the debate, Mr. Oz insisted he is as pro-life as anyone.
“As a heart surgeon, I’ve operated on small children a few days old and witnessed the majesty of their hearts pounding blood, even though ill, because I’m operating on them through those bodies, I would never think of harming that child, or even nine months earlier because life starts at conception,” he said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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