State Representative Rick Brattin (R-MO) is introducing a bill that would force a woman to obtain written permission from the man who impregnated her if she wants an abortion.
The bill states “[no] abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion.”
There are two exceptions: “in cases where the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed or induced was the victim of rape or incest,” or if the woman has “a notarized affidavit attesting to the fact” that the man who impregnated her is deceased.
Brattin told Mother Jones that there are caveats to the exceptions – women will have to prove they were raped. “Just like any rape, you have to report it, and you have to prove it. So you couldn’t just go and say, ‘Oh yeah, I was raped,’ and get an abortion. It has to be a legitimate rape.”
Brattin insists that he isn’t using the term “legitimate rape” in the same way former Representative Todd Akin (R-MO) used it when he said that women are unable to become pregnant from “legitimate rape” because their bodies have a way of shutting that whole thing down.
“I’m just saying if there was a legitimate rape, you’re going to make a police report, just as if you were robbed,” Brattin clarified. “That’s just common sense.”
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