Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz recently called the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act, which advocates say seeks to redefine rape, “a violent act against women.” The bill probably has no chance, but it still needs to be called out, loudly.
The bill, introduced two weeks ago in the House, seeks to make permanent the Hyde Amendment restricting federal funding of abortion via Medicaid. But abortion rights advocates are worried about two byproducts of the bill: Potentially making it harder for abortion to be covered by private insurance, and narrowing the standing rape and incest exception to “forcible rape,” seemingly restricting statutory rape or rape that did not involve other forms of violence.
Both of these sets of concerns first got aired in pieces by Nick Baumann in Mother Jones (here and here). Here’s the actual language that indicates the “forcible rape” change:
‘The limitations established in sections 301, 302, 303, and 304 shall not apply to an abortion—
‘(1) if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest; or
‘(2) in the case where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.
Note that minors aren’t covered here unless incest was involved. And as Jonathan Capehart at The Washington Post points out “forcible rape” is never defined.
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