Jezebel posted an article today about a Republican in Indiana who voted down a exception that would allow abortion to be an option for victims of rape and incest because it might encourage women to lie about being raped in order to get abortions. The exception was voted down because it would create a 'giant loophole' and that "someone who is desirous of an abortion could simply say that they've been raped or there's incest."
This bothered me on a number of levels. I might have an easier time with this if the concern was that it may result in wrongful rape convictions, then I could say well, that's a good point, kind of. Lord knows, we don't need people wrongfully imprisoned, nor do we need more people to doubt the validity of actual rape accusations.
She's just saying he raped her because she wants an abortion.
Yeah, let's add THAT to a list of handy rape defenses.
But there's no mention I've seen about this concern. The GOP still seems mainly concerned with making sure that sexually active women face the 'consequences of their actions'. Besides, if the concern WAS an increase in false accusations of rape/incest, then it'd be just as easy to avoid such a situation by NOT restricting availability to cases of rape and incest, thus negating the need to lie about it.
The other thing that bothers me about these lines of rhetoric is that the right-wing and the pro-life movement seems to be under the impression that women fighting for reproductive choice are simply clamoring for the opportunity to have an abortion of their very own.
I want to make this very clear. No one WANTS to go through this.
The way some folks put it, however, you'd think there were thousands of women out there, getting themselves knocked up on purpose so they can be ready for that uber-trendy photo op outside the abortion clinic.
We're not Johnny Cash here. We're not shooting men in Reno, just to watch them die.
I am so sick of all this anti-abortion crap. I would just like to smack them.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Christian yet I support choice and gay marriage. What I can not get my right wing aquaintances to understand is that being against both issues is issuing judgement. If Jesus came back tomorrow, do you think he'd care how much people went to church? No. He would care about people being judgemental, gossipy, and political in his name.
ReplyDeleteI seriously want to know if the people who are pushing these laws know a close family member who has been raped, if they have been assaulted themselves, or if they are guilty of committing such acts.
ReplyDeleteOnce you've "been there" I think your perception changes immensely.
I cannot echo your words enough. No one WANTS this.
But as a survivor of rape, I can also tell you that I would never want to carry a baby to term that was my rapist's.
I have enough PTSD already, thankyouverymuch.
I'm fortunate to not have had to go through this procedure, but women should be allowed to choose, no matter the circumstance.