Prominent Anti-Abortion Pastor Arrested, Charged With Child Sex Abuse In Texas

A prominent Southern Baptist pastor in Texas was arrested on charges of child sex abuse after repeatedly molesting a teenage relative, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Pastor Stephen Bratton, who supported Texas legislation that would have criminalized abortions, allegedly engaged in inappropriate touching of his underage relative that escalated to “sexual intercourse multiple times a day or several times a week” between 2013 and 2015, a Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman told The Houston Chronicle.

Bratton, 43, posted $50,000 bond has been released from the county jail, according to the report. It is unclear whether Bratton has an attorney to comment.

In April, Bratton publicly spoke out in favor of a failed Texas bill that would have allowed women to be criminally charged with homicide for terminating pregnancies.

“Whoever authorizes or commits murder is guilty. They’re guilty already in a court that is far more weighty than what is here in Texas,” Bratton said at a hearing for the bill, according to the report.

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