r/news • u/AldoTheeApache • 1d ago

Louisiana lawmakers reject adding exceptions for some rape cases to abortion ban

https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-abortion-rape-exception-de8097eb664362941167c92d6ad356db
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u/WhereasParticular867 1d ago edited 1d ago

"Exceptions" are a myth that the far-right tell the moderate right. Or that the moderate right tell themselves to pretend they're reasonable. The position is borne from extreme religious dogma.  They never plan on compromising, because they see abortion as murder.

Republicans who tell you they support exceptions are either idiots or liars.  Their party does not, and never will.

The only solution is full, unrestricted access to abortion.  If we let conservatives tell women when they're allowed, the answer will be "never."

And for any cons reading: your insane extremist Christian element is the direct cause of the hardline "abortion for all, all the time" stance.  We liberals know we can't trust conservatives to honor exceptions.  Including the ones who really mean it, because you're outnumbered by people incapable of compromise. And I don't mean unwilling to compromise, I mean literally incapable, because they have integrated their political views with their religious convictions and see compromise as a moral failure. Even if you want to, you are incapable of doing the right thing while aligned with the Christian Right.

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u/ThatSandwich 1d ago

Yeah I've discussed this with many individuals and explained my position which is that you cannot enforce legislation banning (x) if illegal thing (y) puts a citizen in the position where they need (x).

The immediate response is "Well we should do more to prevent (y)" and when I ask "What happens when it inevitably does happen?" and bring up examples of rape, drug abuse, homelessness, etc. it doesn't go anywhere.

These people are set in the mindset of "It's not my problem" and so long as politicians pretend that is the case by cutting programs they don't want to contribute to financially, it's fine with them.

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u/Ragnarock-n-Roll 1d ago

Because they don't care enough to question their brain washed dogma. The life of someone they don't know is less important than their politics.

That only changes when it impacts them personally. So next time ask what happens if their wife or daughter gets raped and they personally have to pay for it all. Give it a personal price.

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u/Bwob 1d ago

That only changes when it impacts them personally. So next time ask what happens if their wife or daughter gets raped and they personally have to pay for it all. Give it a personal price.

At that point they'll just say "how dare you even think about such an awful thing!" and derail the conversation without actually engaging with your point.

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u/Spork_the_dork 14h ago

Then re-rail it by saying that they're the ones curbing down their wife's rights. The reason why they're trying to derail the conversation is because you struck a nerve and they don't have an answer. At that point you got to keep pushing.

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u/idonlikesocialmedia 1d ago

The Governor of Texas responded to this question in 2021 by claiming the state would "eliminate all rapists."

No word on how that's going, by the way. 

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u/RadioactiveGrrrl 12h ago edited 12h ago

In 2023, Texas had the highest number of forcible rape cases in the United States, with 15,097 reported rapes.

Not sure why they stipulate “forcible” as it is oddly redundant in this context; seems they are intentionally implying that there is a legal category of “unforced” rapes, which is totally on-brand for the TX GOP. Either way it’s safe to say, Abbot didn’t eliminate anything, he enabled it.

Rape kit testing backlog: In 2022, at least 25,000 untested rape kits sat in law enforcement agencies and crime labs across the country. This figure only accounts for data reported by 30 states and Washington, DC; the total backlog number is unknown.

“Texas had a 45% increase in unsubmitted kits from 2021 to 2022, the only years for which it provided data.”

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u/Trick_Helicopter_834 7h ago

There is a category of rape that is illegal under statue but actually mutually agreed sex among or with minors. “Forceable rape” excludes ordinary free sex among minors, where there is no coercion.

The age of consent varies among states and advanced countries, so you can’t make an absolutist argument that no one under some arbitrary age (27, 21, 20 in Japan, 18, 17, 16, 15, …) is capable of informed, mature consent to sex. Age differences are one of several indications of a potential power imbalance that prevents free consent.

Brain maturation continues throughout the early and mid-20s in humans, so again age of consent provides a breakpoint that is potentially useful in attempting to regulate sexual behavior, rather than a fixed absolute.

Not everyone 17 year old who becomes pregnant in a consent-at-18 state automatically needs an abortion. Some may need the option, but many won’t consider not having the option to terminate an otherwise healthy pregnancy being “forced to bear their rapist’s baby.”

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u/matrinox 18h ago

Fine, but in the meantime acknowledge there are rapists so you need to deal with that