Rep. Ted Klaudt (R-SD) Charged with Raping his Foster Daughters and Legislative Pages

Rape Allegations of Former S.D. Legislator Highlight Extreme Right's Obsession with the Worth of a Womb

Last Friday, former Republican state legislator Ted Klaudt of Walker, SD was charged with multiple counts of rape and related charges against his foster daughters and legislative pages in his care.

As I have thought about former Republican Representative Ted Klaudt's criminal charges for rape, it struck me that his obsession about the value of his foster daughters' eggs seemed vaguely familiar.

First, as KSFY-TV reported:

After turning himself in, Ted Klaudt made his first court appearance this afternoon in Lawrence County. The accusations explained in a 26 page affidavit are graphic. Investigators say Klaudt would tell the girls they could make thousands of dollars if they donated their reproductive eggs. Before they could be approved as donors, or paid, they had to pass certain fertility tests Klaudt would preform.

Besides all the alleged perversion and abuse of vulnerable girls in his care, Klaudt was looking at commoditizing the girls' eggs for profit.

Oh, and Rep. Klaudt was a prime sponsor of HB 1215, the near total abortion ban. Now that's something that definitely makes you want to go "hmmm."

But I digress.

Where have we heard this before?

Think back to the 2006 election and the referendum on HB 1215/Referred Law 6, the near total abortion ban that South Dakotans voted down. What did fellow prime sponsor Rep. Roger Hunt say why abortion should be illegal? It's good for the economy.

From the Toronto (Canada) Globe and Mail:

Mr. Hunt even sees economic benefits from banning abortion in South Dakota, noting that there are an average of 800 of the procedures a year. If those babies had been born, the state wouldn't be facing the same demographic crisis of falling school enrolment in rural areas and economic decline, he said.

And it would be a boon to adoptive parents. "People are going to Asia, Central and South America to adopt children? Why not have them adopted here?"

Then there is the grandmother of them all in terms of commoditizing women's wombs-Leslee Unruh.