[Cross-posted to my blog, Out of the Locker]
"I oppose abortion except in the case of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger."
Some questions for the Senator...
1) Where will this raped woman get an abortion? 88% of US counties have no identifiable abortion provider. Additionally, training for medical students who want to learn how to perform abortions is hard to come by. Assuming abortion is made illegal in all cases except rape and incest, it seems like the number of clinics and doctors who bother to learn to perform the procedure would drop significantly - so how is a woman in a rural area supposed to get access to these services?
2) How will you determine who qualifies for an abortion? Will she have to submit to a rape kit? Report the rape? Wait until the man was convicted? Even though the courts are often traumatic and unfair places to the rape victim, to the point that the word "rape" has been banned in a rape trial"? What if she's afraid to report, or doesn't want to deal with the backlash and victim-blaming? What if, by the time the rapist was sentenced, the victim was already late in her pregnancy?
3) Who's paying for this? Abortion is expensive, and many rape victims probably don't have access to health care. Will you set up a government fund to pay for the procedure? What about paying for transportation, since most women have to travel a few hours at least to get to their nearest clinic?
4) And, here's a question for the Religious Right... what makes the fetus/baby/whatever of a rapist any less deserving of life than the fetus/baby/whatever of a non-rapist? It's an individual person!!1!one! ...No, I'm not going to pursue this question any further. I don't want to give them ideas.
The way I see it, if safe and accessible abortion isn't available to EVERY woman, it won't be available to the ones who, in John McCain's mind, deserve it. Any thoughts?
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"The way I see it, if safe and accessible abortion isn't available to EVERY woman, it won't be available to the ones who, in John McCain's mind, deserve it. Any thoughts?"
Well said. I doubt anyone from the media has ever asked McCain and other anti-choice with rape exception types these questions. McCain would probably sputter and look scared like he did when asked about birth control.