GOP Rep. DesJarlais fined for affairs with patients

{mosads}”There are more expensive traffic tickets,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan in a statement. “Tennessee authorities apparently believe sexual exploitation of women is less serious than speeding.”

The $500 fine was the sum of two separate penalties, one for each of DesJarlais’s affairs. Tennessee state law prohibits sexual contact between doctors and patients.

DesJarlais won reelection in November despite news that he had slept with patients and urged a romantic partner to have an abortion. Today, DesJarlais opposes abortion rights.

The congressman spoke of one affair last fall, saying he exercised “poor judgment,” but also said that the woman in question turned out not to be pregnant, making an abortion unnecessary.