News
Is this real?
I haven’t had enough time yet to check this out at any depth, but can anyone tell me if this is for real?
The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape.
With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to “forcible rape.” This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion. (Smith’s spokesman did not respond to a call and an email requesting comment.)
So this is mostly about abortion, using rape as the technique to get at news ways to reduce access to reproductive rights. Right now, I’m a little speechless. I sort of assumed that Congress had other things to do right now, like tackle our monumental debt or help create new jobs or figure out what our role was going to be with the new orders appearing in Africa. Apparently, I’m wrong, though. What Congress really needs to do is make sure that survivors who don’t John Boehner’s view of acceptable victims don’t get healthcare coverage or assistance.
I’m hoping to have a more coherent response in a day or two, but right now, I’ll urge the usual - contact your reps or senators, tell them this is beyond the worst idea ever. Hopefully we can think of something creative like Sady’s #mooreandme campaign to get this thing killed before it goes anywhere.