A rape victim could be charged?!!!
Proposed New Mexico law would send rape victims to prison for having abortions
A Republican lawmaker in New Mexico introduced a bill on Wednesday that would legally require victims of rape to carry their pregnancies to term in order to use the fetus as evidence for a sexual assault trial.
It’s another one of those unbelievable moments in the so-called GOP “war on women.”
House Bill 206, introduced by state Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for "tampering with evidence."
“Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime," the bill says.
According to the proposed law, even the physician who performs the abortion could be charged with a crime.
Because New Mexico’s House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats, there’s not much concern about the bill actually passing to become state law. But it’s causing a furor on social media.
A Facebook page, “Cathrynn Brown Must Resign NOW,” was established late Thursday afternoon. Brown has failed to respond on Facebook or Twitter, but is back-pedaling her position, now admitting that the bill was poorly written. She wanted to make it a crime for the rapist, in cases of incest, to force the victim to have an abortion. That makes more sense: A stepfather who rapes his teen stepdaughter and insists she have an abortion to hide the “evidence” of incest could face criminal charges.
The legislation “was never intended to punish or criminalize rape victims,” Brown, who just started her second term as a state legislator, said.
If the proposed bill was aimed at fighting abortion, it would affect a small number: Only 1 percent of abortions are due to rape or incest. As many as 32,000 women become pregnant each year as a result of rape. Results from studies about what these women choose to do vary widely: Around 26 percent to 50 percent get abortions, 6 percent to 36 percent give the child up for adoption, and 32 percent to 64 percent raise the child.
But the damage is done. Brown joins the ranks of such infamous Republicans as Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock. Akin most likely lost his bid for the U.S. Senate when he said women could “shut down” the ability to conceive in cases of “legitimate rape.” Mourdock’s convoluted response during a debate for the U.S. Senate seat sounded too much like rape was “a gift from God.”
Pat Davis of ProgressNow New Mexico, a progressive nonprofit opposing the bill, called it "blatantly unconstitutional" on Thursday.
“The bill turns victims of rape and incest into felons and forces them to become incubators of evidence for the state,” he said. “According to Republican philosophy, victims who are ‘legitimately raped’ will now have to carry the fetus to term in order to prove their case.“
The bill is unlikely to pass, as Democrats have a majority in both chambers of New Mexico's state legislature.
UPDATE: Brown said in a statement Thursday that she introduced the bill with the goal of punishing the person who commits incest or rape and then procures or facilitates an abortion to destroy the evidence of the crime.
“New Mexico needs to strengthen its laws to deter sex offenders,” said Brown. “By adding this law in New Mexico, we can help to protect women across our state.”
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