As New Reports Show GOP Women Upset with Leadership over Abortion Bill, Pro-Choice Caucus Leaders Tells House GOP Leadership: ‘Legitimate Rape’ Language Has No Place in Legislation
20-Week Abortion Bill Scheduled for Vote Next Week Contains Language Restricting Rape and Incest Exception to Incidents Reported to Law Enforcement
WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswomen Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, criticized House GOP leaders for trying to include language in their 20-week abortion ban bill that hearkens to previous statements made by GOP lawmakers about 'legitimate rape.' As currently written, the legislation set to come to the floor next week contains an exception for rape and incest, but only if the incident is reported to law enforcement. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), 68 percent of sexual assaults over the last five years went unreported.
According to recent reports in Politico and National Journal, women in the GOP conference are rebelling against GOP leadership over the offensive language.
Representatives DeGette and Slaughter also expressed dismay that House Republicans are choosing to spend the third week of the Congressional session on attacking women's health, and said that pushing the controversial bill so early in the term sent a clear signal to women across the country about the Republicans' real priorities for the next two years.
"Forcing women to go on-the-record about such a traumatic experience as a prerequisite to getting help is unconscionable, and adds to the pain of women who are survivors of rape or incest," the Representatives said. "Families across this country don't want politicians inserting themselves into these extremely personal decisions, much less defining whether a rape or case of incest was legitimate or not. Every national poll shows that voters want government to help create jobs and improve the economy – let's focus on that for a change and stay out of people's private personal decisions."
Ironically, House Republicans are planning on bringing up the bill on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which granted a constitutional right to privacy.