In defending abortion law, Abbott vows to 'eliminate rape'

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott connected Tuesday defended a caller authorities instrumentality that eliminates each abortions aft six weeks — including those from pregnancies resulting from rape — by pledging to "eliminate each rapists from the streets of Texas."

The arguable instrumentality took effect past week aft the Supreme Court chose not to artifact it portion courts sorted done its legality. It bans each abortions aft a fetal heartbeat is detected, which tin hap conscionable 2 weeks aft a missed menstrual play — earlier galore women cognize they are pregnant.

The caller instrumentality does not marque exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape oregon incest.

On Tuesday, reporters asked Abbott wherefore a rape oregon incest unfortunate should beryllium forced to transportation a gestation to term.

Abbott argued that the instrumentality did not necessitate a pistillate to springiness birth, citing the information that abortions are inactive permitted earlier fetal heartbeats are detected.

He past pledged to ace down connected rapists arsenic a means to forestall unwanted pregnancies.

"Let's marque thing precise clear. Rape is simply a crime, and Texas volition enactment tirelessly to marque definite that we destruct each rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going retired and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them disconnected the streets," Abbott said. "Goal No. 1 successful the authorities of Texas is to destruct rape, truthful that nary woman, nary person, volition beryllium the unfortunate of rape."

Abbott's comments attracted disapproval from opponents of the law, including Amy Jones, the CEO of the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center.

"Certainly it is successful our ngo connection to enactment to extremity intersexual violence, that is wherefore we exist, but we are besides precise alert that that is an aspirational extremity that yes, we bash judge that this is simply a preventable crime, but it if it were that easy, rape would nary longer exist," Jones told the Associated Press.

During an quality connected CNN Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) said she recovered Abbott's comments "disgusting," arguing that often, the ineligible strategy isn't equipped to grip the intricacies of each rape case.

"These aren't conscionable predators walking astir the streets astatine night. They are people's uncles, they are teachers, they are household friends," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN. "When thing similar that happens, it takes a precise agelong time, archetypal of all, for immoderate unfortunate to travel forward. And 2nd of all, erstwhile a unfortunate comes forward, they don't needfully privation to bring their lawsuit into the incarceral system. They don't privation to re-traumatize themselves by going to court."

The Department of Justice has recovered that astir rapes spell unreported to police, and a 2019 survey recovered that 1 successful 3 victims reported that they were raped oregon sexually assaulted.