For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.Classy, eh?
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.
...The term "forcible rape" is not defined in the federal criminal code, and the bill's authors don't offer their own definition. In some states, there is no legal definition of "forcible rape," making it unclear whether any abortions would be covered by the rape exemption in those jurisdictions.
If you're poor, you better make sure your attacker not only rapes you, but beats the living hell out of you in the process. If not, you need to pay for--or live with and raise--his consequences.
If you were drugged, incapacitated, unconscious, or molested by a non-relative, you weren't raped enough according to John Boehner. Which is perversely appropriate, since they're more than willing to violate you all over again with laws like this one.
Once again, the conservative movement is working, tirelessly, to shrink government until it's just small enough to fit into every woman's uterus.
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