This bill is being pushed in New Mexico by… guess who… a Republican! She wants to throw rape victims in jail for aborting a pregnancy due to rape. That’s right, if this bill goes through, the victim of a rape would then go to jail if she aborts the rapist’s seed!
We have seen multiple attemps by Republicans to exert FREEDOM on the bodies of women by telling them what they can and cannot do with their own body. This FREEDOM was on full display during the 2012 elections when contraceptives, rape and abortions played a major role in the voting booths. Americans spoke up loud and clear by voting for candidates with more progressive ideas on the rights of women over their own bodies, but like everything else, Republicans fail to accept the results of the election.
Huffington Post reports that 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.
Third-degree felonies in New Mexico carry a sentence of up to three years in prison.
We are now back to their War on Women. Time to dust off the hashtag #WarOnWomen!
