By Rachel Treisman / NPR / September 8, 2021
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is again under fire for his state’s restrictive new abortion law, after falsely claiming it does not force victims of rape or incest to give birth even though it prohibits abortions at about six weeks — which is before many people even know they’re pregnant.
At a bill signing for a different piece of legislation Tuesday, Abbott was asked about forcing a rape or incest victim to carry their pregnancy to term. He misleadingly replied that the law does not require that and went on to say that the state will “work tirelessly” to “eliminate all rapists.”
“Obviously, it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion and so, for one, it doesn’t provide that,” Abbott said. “That said … Rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”
In fact, the countdown for those six weeks starts from the first date of a person’s last period (not the “expected” period that was missed), leaving many with only about 1-2 weeks to end the pregnancy, if that, under the new law.
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Governor Abbott will be opening the door to permissive rape and incest by allowing “no exception for incest & rape. If she cannot get an abortion reporting the crime only punishes her and the child. The stigma that goes with incest will keep her quiet, about child who is her daughter & her sister or whose dad is her brothe/uncle, or cousin. Incest & rape is easier if less likely to be exposed, punished. Also she is always at risk of being murdered by a rapist or family member rapist as her existence reminds him of crime and possble exposure if she tells.