Republican Lawmaker 'Trolled' by Anti-Abortion Colleague After Speaking About Being Raped
PoliticsA South Carolina lawmaker who gave a speech about being raped as a teenager while advocating for rape and incest exceptions to the state’s 6-week abortion ban was harrassed afterward by a male colleague.
Two weeks ago, South Carolina State Rep. Nancy Mace persuaded lawmakers to allow exceptions to the ban after speaking about the rape she survived at 16 years old. Afterward, she found a card on her desk reading: “In the case of conception due to rape it is a twisted logic that would kill the unborn child for the misdeed of the parent.” She learned State Rep. Josiah Magnuson (also a Republican, if that needed saying) had placed the card there on behalf of a group called Personhood SC.
Mace called the card “ignorant” in an interview with The State:
“Calling rape a misdeed is ignorant, disgraceful and degrading toward women. I didn’t get sent to Columbia to put up with bullshit like that.”
In response, Magnuson doubled down on his bullshit by passing out a bullshit letter from his bullshit club:
“Magnuson on Wednesday distributed to House members a letter from a member of Personhood SC stating: “‘The problem of some is not the ‘poor wording’ of this sentence, but that these people just simply want abortion in cases of rape and incest.’”
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford says the incident left Mace “visibly shaken” and described the incident as “trolling.”
But Magnuson contends that the card was an attempt to have a “legitimate conversation:”
“She has put herself out there as a defender of her position,” Magnuson said. “I’m putting myself out there as a defender of my position. We need to have a legitimate conversation on the issues.”
To ensure there are absolutely no repercussions for these actions while giving the appearance of giving a shit about women, House Majority Leader Gary Simrill says he plans to reviews guidelines for “decorum” at the next Republican Caucus meeting.