The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. March 5, 2010 Va. GOP Lawmaker: Disabilities Are God’s Punishment for Abortions ----------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, in Virginia a Republican state delegate is facing calls to step down after claiming that disabled children are God’s punishment to women who aborted their first pregnancy. Bob Marshall made the comments at a news conference to oppose state funding to the abortion rights group Planned Parenthood. Bob Marshall: “The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment, Christians would suggest.” Marshall has since claimed his comments were taken out of context. .