This is an incredibly bizarre statement. When asked why sex assault victims who get pregnant have to carry to term under TX law, first Abbott says they have 6 weeks to get abortion, then says he is going to eliminate rape by arresting all future rapists. pic.twitter.com/OYFH11xT1G
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 7, 2021
If that's a thing he could do--I mean, honestly? What was stopping him? Of course it's just twaddle. People who don't care about reproductive choice are pretty notoriously unconcerned with consent, either.
UPDATE: Although the real problem is--even in the case of an exception for incest or rape, we're conditioning a pregnant person's rights on what someone else has done or what someone else deems to be morally abhorrent, not on what that person needs for their own care. Why should someone have to establish they "deserve" a right that should simply be theirs?
UPDATE 2: For Abbott's primary challenger, Don Huffines, even the 6 weeks allowed under the new law is way too much. I would suppose he's also no fan of Plan B. He's a piece of work. But he demonstrates that as bad as this legislation is, there's the potential for worse.
2 comments:
Is it just me or are we waiting for the GOP to solve the rape problem the same way they solve other intractable problems: by redefining the terminology; in this case by calling "rape" something different.
Bill Gates did the same thing when he asserted that: 'There will be no more blue screen of death'. They didn't really fix anything. They just called the BSOD a "critical error".
Art--you have a point, because the Republican record on this is pretty poor. Regarding rape exemptions, Republicans have been quoted as saying things like "Some girls 'rape easy'" implying that they will cry rape if they experience "buyer's remorse" or some such. Several have indicated they simply don't understand acquaintance or marital rape, and around 2011, there was a push to narrow the definition of rape for the purpose of funding abortions to only "forcible rape". This would tend to erase the reality for many sexual assault survivors, they weren't raped by the stereotypical "stranger lurking in the dark", but by people they live or work or go to school with. These are rapes that may be less likely to be reported anyway because of the social and financial ties the survivor has to the abuser, and ones where the rapist may more readily find our he has impregnated his victim (leading to possibly, threatening them with lawsuits under this bizarrely cruel law).
There's just no way for me not to see victims as being more likely to be punished in Abbott's Texas than rapists being "stopped".
Post a Comment