Butterfly Cauldron

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Your daily dose of outrage

I hope you weren't feeling too comfortable in the world. Because this lovely tale of parents attempting to force their adult daughter into having an abortion is brought to you by Racism and Stupidity.

SALEM, N.H. (AP) — A Maine couple accused of tying up their 19-year-old daughter, throwing her in their car and driving her out of state to get an abortion were upset because the baby’s father is black, a Maine sheriff said Tuesday.

Katelyn Kampf, who is white, told Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion that her mother “was pretty irate at the fact that the child’s father was black, and she had made a number of disparaging remarks about that,” he said.


Because what's worse than a biracial baby? Why, nothing, of course! It's such an outrage that it makes perfect, logical sense to tie up your adult daughter, throw her in a car and drive across state to compel her into an abortion. Because the bloodline must remain pure.

The parents were arraigned Monday on kidnapping charges. The judge set bail at $100,000 each and ordered the Kampfs to have no contact with their daughter.

If convicted of kidnapping, the Kampfs face 7½ to 15 years in prison. Dion said he expects to bring charges in Maine also, after investigators consult with the district attorney Wednesday.

The couple’s attorney has said there was no evidence the parents threatened their daughter or her unborn child.

“What we’re dealing with here is a terrible family tragedy with some unfortunate misunderstandings and some overreaction, perhaps on all sides — but not an attempt to terrorize anybody,” Sisti said at Monday’s arraignment.

According to a police affidavit, there was no evidence the daughter remained tied up by the time the Kampfs entered New Hampshire, he said. The affidavit also said Katelyn Kampf told police she was not hurt and that she and her parents “had been talking cordially” during the trip.

Dion said Katelyn Kampf told him her parents got upset when she called them Thursday night and told them she was pregnant. The Kampfs had met her boyfriend before and been friendly, but the pregnancy apparently “changed the dynamic,” he said.

Katelyn Kampf said her mother “kept referring to the baby as a thing, as ’It,’ and there were other comments made,” he said.


And why was she untied when she escaped? Because she convinced her parents to let her go to the bathroom. And how is driving someone across state against their will, calling the child she clearly wants an "it" and other racial slurs, while letting her know you're taking her to get an abortion, again against her will, not terrorizing?

In a court affidavit, Salem Police Officer Sean Marino wrote that Katelyn told him her parents “chased her out into the yard, grabbed and tied her hands and feet together.” Her father carried her to the car and they headed to New Hampshire, he wrote.

Katelyn Kampf escaped from her parents in Salem after persuading them to untie her so she could use a Kmart bathroom. After her father went into the men’s room, she used a cell phone she had swiped from her father to call for help, then ran to a nearby Staples store, where police found “a hysterical female hiding in the back of the store,” according to the affidavit.


Yep. Sounds like she wasn't scared at all.

Investigators said rope, duct tape, scissors and a .22-caliber rifle were found in the Kampfs’ Lexus and Nicholas Kampf had a loaded .22-caliber magazine clip in his pants pocket.

Authorities in Maine said the parents apparently thought that, in light of their daughter’s stage of pregnancy and the different abortion laws in each state, the abortion should be performed in New York. It was unclear how many weeks pregnant she was.


Clearly, it was all a misunderstanding. I mean, doesn't everyone carry around rope, tape and weapons in thier car? And ammo in their pocket? I know I do. And, since they were taking her to New York, it's fairly safe to assume she is at least in her second trimester. So, she'd doubtlessly known she was pregnant for awhile, made the decision to have the child and -- probably knowing how her parents would react-- decided not to tell them until she felt it was safe to do so. (Or maybe she didn't want to tell anyone until the risk of miscarriage was lower, who knows?) But given the reaction her parents had, maybe she shouldn't have mentioned it until the baby was born?

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posted by Zan at 12:09 PM

4 Comments:

I had been feeling kind of comfortable in the world.

I think she chose wisely. Had she waited, they might be claiming assaulting their grandchild was a "misundertsanding." With this arrest, maybe their future actions will be taken seriously as well.

And to call Katelyn Kampf's behavior an "overreaction"!

4:04 PM  

what a conundrum this must be for racist republicans everywhere... well of course we can't let this white girl have a black baby, but abortion is of course immoral and should never be used as birth control. i can just see their heads exploding now....

2:52 AM  

eh, they'll just plow straight ahead wrt the horror of abortion; officially they're not supposed to be racist anymore; all the better to try to rope in conservative black folks again (all 7 or 8 of 'em that actually might be persuaded to vote Republican ever again...)

9:05 PM  

The Republicans forced Asian sweatshop workers to abort. I'm sure they could rationalize it, just like they pull the plug on the babies of poor Texan parents.

10:22 PM  

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