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In defending his controversial anti-abortion legislation, Oklahoma state Rep. George Faught said that even in pregnancies that result from rape or incest, “God can bring beauty from ashes.”

Faught made the statement during a debate on the Oklahoma House floor last week. Faught’s bill, which overwhelmingly passed the House on Tuesday, would outlaw abortions sought by women based solely on a diagnosis of Down syndrome or other genetic abnormalities. A fellow lawmaker criticized the Republican from Muskogee for not including an exception for pregnancies that resulted from rape and incest.

In a heated exchange, Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, asked Faught whether rape or incest is the “will of God.”

“Well, you know, if you read the Bible, there’s actually a couple of circumstances where that happened. And the Lord uses all circumstances. I mean, you can get on that path, but you know it’s a reality, unfortunately,” Faught said, adding that rape and incest have nothing to do with his legislation.

Williams fired back, saying that because Faught is “proffering divine intervention” as the reasons he won’t include exceptions for rape and incest, fellow lawmakers deserve to know whether he believes that such acts are God’s will.

“You know, it’s a great question to ask,” Faught responded. “And obviously if it happens in someone’s life, it may not be the best thing that ever happened . ... So you’re saying that God is not sovereign with every activity that happens in someone’s life and can’t use anything and everything in someone’s life, and I disagree with that.”

Faught’s remarks have drawn criticisms on social media. In tweeting a story about the bill, the Center for Reproductive Rights wrote, “Our job is to make sure a woman’s deeply personal decision is never at the mercy of lawmakers like this.”

“Then by his logic, murder is an act of God, all religious beliefs should be kept out of law making,” a Twitter user wrote in response to the center’s tweet.

Efforts to reach Faught for comment Saturday were unsuccessful.

HB 1549, which would create the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2017, would penalize doctors for performing abortions sought because of Down syndrome or other abnormalities. Doctors’ medical licenses would be suspended or revoked, and they would face steep fines.