Never mind China’s stock market crash. Televangelist Pat Robertson proclaimed Monday that the massive Dow drop is actually divine retribution for the U.S. government supporting abortion access and funding Planned Parenthood.
“Here in America, we have been complicit in terminating the lives of in excess of 50 million precious unborn children, and don’t you think almighty God is going to hold us accountable for that?” the “700 Club” host asked after airing a report on Planned Parenthood demonstrations. “It’s coming ladies and gentleman. We just have a little taste of it in terms of the financial system, but it’s going to get shaken to its core in the next few months, years or however long it takes, and it will hurt every one of us.”
Legal access to abortion has of course been blamed many other times for completely unrelated ills. In June, California Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R) made a connection between abortion and drought while speaking at the California ProLife Legislative Banquet in June but has since denied comments attributed to her by RH Reality Check, a reproductive health news site.
“No, I did not say God made it rain in Texas because of the fetal pain bill,” she wrote in a press release. “I did relay a report I heard I knew would be interesting to my audience. I told them after the governor signed the fetal pain bill, it rained that night.”
Grove was likely referring to a Texas abortion bill banning abortions 20 weeks after fertilization, four weeks earlier than the standard set by Roe v. Wade.
Shortly after her speech, Grove also wrote a Facebook status implying that the drought could be the result of divine retribution.
“I believe ―and most Americans believe ―that God’s hand is in the affairs of man, and certainly was in the formation of this country,” she wrote. “Is this drought caused by God? Nobody knows. But biblical history shows a consequence to man’s actions.”
This story has been updated to reflect that Assemblywoman Shannon Grove says she was misquoted by RH Reality Check.
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