Texas Governor Greg Abbott bizarrely vows to 'eliminate rape' by 'arresting rapists' when asked about new abortion law
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
TEXAS Governor Greg Abbott said he was determined to "eliminate rape" in a bizarre response as he signed into law his state's controversial abortion bill.
"Goal number one in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person will be a victim of rape," Abbott said.
3Abbott justified signing SB 8 into law: "Goal number one in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person will be a victim of rape"Credit: AP3The law bans some abortions in Texas and allows people to sue for $10,000 abortion providers or those who assist them outside the six-week periodCredit: AP
Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which became Texas law on Sept. 1 has been harangued nationally by its ability to ban abortions as soon as six weeks or once a fetal heartbeat is detected - before many women are aware they are expecting.
The Republican governor said the bill does not mandate would-be mothers who have been raped to carry their pregnancy to term, it in fact offers six weeks to get an abortion and so it "does not do that [force victims to have their assaulter's child]."
GOV. ABBOTT: 'RAPE IS A CRIME'
"Let's make something very clear: Rape is a crime," Abbott said.
"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."
He added that it is important to lend support for rape victims through state and other victim organizations.
SB 8, which Abbott signed onto the books in May, also empowers private citizens to formally file a lawsuit of $10,000 or more against abortion providers or anyone who assists someone who attempts to get an abortion outside of a six-week period.
SEX ASSAULT REPORTING BOUNTY?
Already, many have come forward accusing the anti-abortion law as putting a bounty on people like her who are supposed to protect victims.
"We're talking about advocates who don't make a lot of money," social worker Monica Faulkner told KXAN, adding she is terrified she could get sued if she reports a sexual assault.
"They can't afford $10,000-plus attorney fees."
Politicians shot back at Abbott.
"1. Many women don't realize they're pregnant before six weeks," U.S. Democrat Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas responded on Twitter wrote.
"2. Texas has a terrible record on prosecuting rapes - case in point the backlog of literally thousands of rape kits that have gone unattended. @GovAbbott has made the state of Texas a dangerous place for women."
Democrat Juan Castro, who served as the mayor of San Antonio and also launched a presidential bid questioned Abbott's miss when it comes to protecting rape victims in the Lone Star state.
"Many women don't even know they're pregnant by the 6-week mark when abortion is outlawed in this bill," Castro tweeted.
"Rape and incest victims would be forced to carry a pregnancy to term at that point - or face civil lawsuits for getting an abortion."
POLITICAL WARFARE
The law has incited debate from members from all political stripes.
Many are calling the law the harshest abortion measure in the country and could cause the undoing of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court's landmark decision protecting a woman's right to get an abortion.
Last week, the nation's highest court refused to step in and halt SB 8.
It has yet to rule on its constitutionality.
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I have to apologize to Greg Abbott. I have been talking about him on the basis that he is stupid, but that doesnt do his malevolence justice. He is evil.
Abbott vows to "eliminate" rape , thus making the prohibition on abortion for rape victims irrelevant. Abbott says they will arrest and imprison all rapists, not seeming to realize that such law enforcement actions are retribution not prevention.
Rape has been around for tens of thousands of years, and a piddling entity like Texas will not "eliminate" it. A mass evolution of consciousness is needed. Not likely to emerge in Texas.
oops
A new low for stupid, congratulations Abbott.
Notice that the right wingers of NT are avoiding this article like the plague.
Probably because it's a nothing burger and Abbott is an idiot. Nothing to see or debate here. Just another of your "Republicans bad" hit pieces.
This man is ruining the lives of countless women.
Some are making something of this nothing burger as you call it. They seem to think there's an exception for rape
No, they are not commenting here because they know this is a damaging issue and are trying as hard as possible to divert attention with 'Democrats bad' hit pieces. Sneaking in "Abbott is an idiot" was just a diversionary tactic and poorly played.
Perry, another POTUS wannabe who could not remember the three departments he was going to eliminate,
ended up running one of them as his GoP conciliation prize when he lost to....everyone in 2012 & 2016
Perry, oft mocked for being an Aggie and a male Aggie cheerleader, was clearly one of the great idiots elected to Governor of Texas.
However he was never mean and he could tell bad policy from truly awful poisoned policy.
Perry's reputation increases every time Greg Abbott puts pen to paper or opens his mouth this year.
The hate and spin at play with this article is egregious.
He clearly stated he was going to try and eliminate rape by arresting all rapists. Clearly only a good GOAL and NOT a comment to insinuate that rape will be eliminated 100%.
At least not to the untriggered.
The worst part is the fool tried to take attention off of the "no exception for rape or incest" part of the law by claiming he will eliminate rape in Texas. I wonder what his position is on eliminating incest.
Did you watch the video John?
I haven't read the legislation but he clearly stated there is exceptions for rape up to at least six weeks.
Why do you insist on being so disingenuous at times?
That is NOT an exception for rape. Most rape victims are scared out of their minds to even confront what happened to them, never mind that many women don't even know that they are pregnant at six weeks. I didn't know and I had twins.
Be that as it may, by definition, it IS an exception for rape.
No exception would be, well, no exception for rape within any time frame.
One could say, not a long enough time frame to be a realistic exception perhaps but calling it NO exception, is just a lie.
Give all men Depoprevera so they can't get an erection. But that doesn't stop them from raping women in other ways
If the new law covers abortions after six weeks , how would an "exception" for rape be an actual exception prior to the six week mark.
An actual exception would have to cover the period AFTER six weeks.
Thank you. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to point that out.
Do we have to keep reminding people that most women don't know their pregnant within 6 weeks? Especially if it's their first pregnancy
Do they know when they are raped?
I agree with you, but his claim is wrong either way.
Sparty,
An exception means that they get a break from the 6 week rule. There is no exception to the 6 week rule.
And please do not imply that I am lying.
If folks would read with comprehension they would know this
Nope, the only one here who has justified the insensitivity of the proposed law is Perrie.
The rest of you are just spouting off the usual liberal platitudes spoon fed to you by the hive.
I think the reason Sparty asked the question is because they would KNOW that there was a possibility of a pregnancy and the six weeks would be fairly easily tracked by the victim and therefore an abortion could be performed within the time frame allowed.
By arguing that there is an exception to the law for rape prior to the six week mark you are making a fool out of yourself. The law does not apply to ANYONE until after six weeks.
they would KNOW that there was a possibility of a pregnancy and the six weeks would be fairly easily tracked by the victim and therefore an abortion could be performed within the time frame allowed.
Yeah, just set a reminder on their phone. Maybe someone in Texas can develop a rape app to make it simple and convenient.
Well, sadly not all young girls or women who are raped come forward, especially when it might be a family member. Often times the first time a parent finds out their daughter was raped is when a pregnancy becomes visibly noticeable. In a perfect world there would be no rape or all girls who are assaulted come forward and are believed. We obviously do not live in a perfect world and Abbott will never be able to arrest "all the rapists", so punishing young victims for not being courageous enough to come forward and announce they've been raped so their Mom will go buy them a pregnancy test before 6 weeks is only making the callous right wing religious conservatives happy who live in some fantasy world where they believe if everyone would just believe like they do and live like they do and make decisions like they do everything would be a paradise. They need to stop trying legislate morality, they need to get their noses out of other people business and bodies, it's none of their fucking business.
Totally false.
'By definition', an exception to a law would connote an EXCLUSION, NOT and INCLUSION.
There is NO exception for rape or incest in the law. PERIOD, full stop.
'By definition' INCLUDING pregnancies that result from rape is NOT an 'exception' Sparty.
No Sparty, it's an ACCURATE representation of the law.
Yet the date of the rape is NOT when the ban starts the 'clock', is it Jim?
From the law:
So the law starts the 'clock' up to month BEFORE a rape occurred.
Oh and BTFW, the law not only FALSELY defines pregnancy, "Pregnancy" means the human female reproductive condition that: begins with fertilization", it falsely states that a "steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction" is from a "fetal heart".
Ironically, the Texas law actually claims to be based on "contemporary medical research".
One of my 'favorite' mandates in the Texas law is that the Physician is REQUIRED to document emergency abortions in the woman's medical records AND to keep a copy of that document in a SEPERATE file. In short, the Texas law intentionally undermines Federal HIPPA protections by requiring Physicians to hold protected medical information OUTSIDE of a patients medical files. How convenient for those vigilantes that Texas is enabling.
Jim,
I have known 2 rape victims. They often go into denial as part of their PTSD. If it is incest, they are afraid to even talk about it, so they don't get tested right away, if at all.
Not to mention the fact that tests don't work until about 2 weeks after impregnation. Most tests say to wait until AFTER you've missed a period. So 3-4 weeks have already ticked off the 6 week clock before testing is recommended.
I wonder how many men here know how long it takes to get an appointment with an OBGYN or even a GP. My NP doesn't have openings any sooner than a MONTH from now.
How do you stop rape by arresting rapists AFTER they have raped someone?
So he has known how to stop rape all this time and is only just now revealing his secrets?
Abbott knows better. His bullshit comments are simply evil masquerading as ignorance.
Gee Sparty, I wonder WHY he suddenly decided to make that a goal. After all, since the 1990's Abbott has been part of Texas' Judiciary, Department of Justice or Governor.
WTF took him so fucking long to acknowledge that the rape of tens of thousands in Texas every fucking year is a issue?
Why the fuck did it take journalist and State Senator Wendy Davis [the Texas woman Republicans love to hate] to force Texas to eliminate the rape kit backlog that had only grown during Abbott's tenure as AG?
Eliminating rape is easy for Republicans - you just redefine the word to suit your needs. Anyone remember “legitimate rape”?
boy do I ever...just what the fuck did that mean?
Good ole Todd Akin. He then lost his run for office in a landslide. Idiot.
And lets not forget trump saying, "It's not rape if she liked it in at end...."
Sorry Frostie - that was Clinton.
Proof??????????????????
Total insanity. Harder on women than putting bounties on the men responsible. Where is the Republican public service announcements or programs to teach boys and men how to be responsible? Where is the big Republican push for more male accountability? Where is the big Republican push for harsher laws and punishment of men who commit these crimes? Everything is status quo for men, and they tear down any woman who credibly makes the accusations. No push for a federal DNA base for men to register with so that rapists who are revealed through rape kits can be more easily prosecuted. No push for a federal male DNA base to chase down fathers so they can be tracked for child support. Everything is put on the women an men far too often fail to be charged, the punishment does not equal the crime committed and no bounties on finding dead beat dads. Where is the law allowing citizen arrests of dead beat dads?
I think the military has a DNA database. Not sure tho. I know I gave a DNA sample back when they started doing it. And it was not voluntary. If the military is still collecting DNA for identification purposes then that would be a good baseline for a federal database
I was right (for a change)
you can also request to have your specimen destroyed once you've met your military obligations
For general purposes let us take Abbott at his word. DJT, avoid Texas.
So what is abbott going to do, activate the pre-crime division?
The used to be a show that had a pre-crime division. You would get busted before you screwed up. I think it lasted one season. Time Cop (VanDam) was a pretty good movie that utilized that concept also.
A rapist has already raped, so how does that "eliminate" something that has already happened? What next, rearrest those who served their time as soon as they set foot outside of prison? Will he scour the web looking for rape fantasy sites (the do exist sadly) and arrest the users under a new law...the You Haven't Yet, But You Will law? Will classic paintings like The Rape Of The Sabine Women by Jacques-Louis David be banned in schools? I swear, Abbott is flakier than my grandmother's best biscuits.