TW: Rape, sexual assault
The 10-year-old girl from Ohio who had to go to Indiana for an abortion is literally the reason these anti-abortion, anti-choice laws are unreasonable and why ”exceptions” are not enough.
One of the men responsible for creating a legislative template for anti-choice laws insists that she should have stayed in Ohio and been forced to carry the child because “She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child.” Later he said “Unless her life was at danger, there is no exception for rape.”
SHE’S TEN GODDAMNED YEARS OLD and she was raped. She shouldn’t have to understand anything like this at her age. Just carrying a pregnancy at her age is both physically and mentally dangerous. And furthermore, to demand that any rape victims carry pregnancies against their will is beyond the pale.
Fox News and other right-wing news outlets tried to convince viewers she wasn’t real (until a man was actually charged for the rape). Catherine Glenn Foster tried to testify to Congress that it “wouldn’t be an abortion,” trying to twist words and misinform the public. And to top it all off, Indiana’s Attorney General is going after Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the doctor who performed the likely life-saving abortion, with potential criminal charges for allegedly not turning in forms on time (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/14/indiana-abortion-rape-ohio-00045899).
It was an abortion. It was necessary, as so many are, but exceptions and medical science don’t matter to the people making these laws. And once again, we can be fairly certain it wasn’t “God’s plan” for this little girl to get raped, so if you do want to praise these anti-choice laws, keep Jesus’s name out of your mouth.