Texas man took 12-year-old he raped to get an abortion. He’s going to prison, DA says

A Texas man who raped a 12-year-old girl, got her pregnant and tried to get her an abortion has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, WFAA reported.

Paul Jon Flanigan, 37, of Midlothian, pleaded guilty in a Ellis County courtroom to continuous sexual abuse of a child, WFAA reported.

The girl is the daughter of a former girlfriend of Flanigan, media outlets reported.

She told investigators that Flanigan “had been molesting her since she was 11 and that he had continued until he discovered that she was pregnant,” the Dallas Morning News reported.

In November 2018, when the girl was 12, he took her to Planned Parenthood in Dallas in an attempt to get an abortion, CBS DFW reported.

Planned Parenthood officials contacted law enforcement and authorities opened an investigation into Flanigan, according to CBS DFW.

The girl gave birth to the child in February and after officials took a DNA sample of the infant, it revealed Flanigan was the father, authorities told multiple outlets.

“Paul Flanigan stole the innocence of a child,” Assistant County and District Attorney Habon Mohamed said in a news release obtained by WFAA. “Flanigan will serve a just punishment for his perverse actions.”

This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 8:17 PM with the headline "Texas man took 12-year-old he raped to get an abortion. He’s going to prison, DA says."