On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made an absurd statement regarding how he planned to “eliminate all rapists” in response to a question about what women in the Lone Star State are supposed to do if they’re raped and don’t want to carry the child to term now that the state has all but made all abortions illegal.
Abbott was asked:
“Why force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term?”
Abbott replied:
“It doesn’t require that at all because obviously, it provides at least six weeks for a person to get an abortion. That said, however, let’s make something clear. Rape is a crime, 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.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about what Abbott said at her press briefing Wednesday afternoon, and her reply has quickly gone viral:
“Well if Governor Abbott has a means of eliminating all rapists or all rape from the United States then there’d be bipartisan support for that. But given there has never in the history of of the country, in the world, been any leader who’s ever been able to eliminate rape, eliminate rapists from our streets, it’s even more imperative—it’s one of the many reasons I should say not the only reason—why women in Texas should have access to healthcare.”
She then added:
“So it does not change our objectives, does not change our commitment. The Department of Justice, the Attorney General, announced a step on Monday. Our Department of Justice is continuing to look at legal options. Our Department of Health and Human Services is also continuing to look at all options and the president has made clear that it’s a priority to do everything that we can to ensure that women in Texas have access to healthcare.”
And there it is: The perfect way to counter these right-wingers who want to keep women from controlling their own reproductive choices. This isn’t about abortion. It’s about the right to choose what happens to your body. It’s about health care and letting women make the most personal and difficult decision any person can ever have to make.
The government doesn’t belong in the bedroom or the doctor’s office. And it damn sure doesn’t belong in anyone’s uterus.
