Congress

Rape Redefined and Brought to You by Members of the US House of Representatives

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is moving to make changes in abortion law. The new No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H. R. 5939) has 173 co-sponsors—most of them Republicans. According to The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape, an article in Mother Jones that was written by Nick Baumann, John Boehner (R-OH) considers the bill a top priority for the new Congress. The bill, reportedly, includes a provision that rewrites the definition of rape.

Federal laws that have restricted the use of government funds for abortions have contained exemptions for pregnancies that resulted from rape and incest and for pregnancies that could endanger the lives of women. Evidently, the new legislation proposes that the rape exemption be limited to “forcible rape.”

Laurie Levenson, an expert on criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said that the authors of the bill used language that was unclear. She thinks that some women will probably lose protection if the bill becomes law. Evidently, the term “forcible rape” is not defined in the criminal code—and the authors of the new bill did not provide their own definition of the term. In addition, there is no legal definition of “forcible rape” in some states. This would make it unclear whether any abortions could be covered by the rape exemption in those states.

What are some types of rape that would no longer be covered by the rape exemption if this bill becomes law? The rapes of women with limited mental capacity and rapes in which women were drugged or given excessive amounts of alcohol.

Sources: Mother Jones

130 thoughts on “Rape Redefined and Brought to You by Members of the US House of Representatives”

  1. Just when I think the religious right cannot fall any further in my estimation, they pull something like this. Even though they were caught in the act, they’re trying to brazen it out and actually trying to blame their victim. As I said before, fucking shitholes. They won’t be happy until they’ve destroyed everything worth having.

  3. Lotta,
    Unfortunately, it is already being used by the Right to paint Planned Parenthood as a criminal organization, notwithstanding the facts.

  4. Elaine, especially, but also everyone else on this thread,

    Thank you so much for doing all this research … I have not commented much but I have been reading every post and link and it has been very helpful. (I recognize I am attempting to assuage my guilt over laziness … never-the-less, my gratitude is sincere)

    I have always had difficulty discussing this material as a very good friend of mine suffered terribly … forgive my silence.

  5. The problem with the Live Action video is the same problem we saw with the Acorn video IMO: it won’t matter if it paints a false picture to the people making the laws or agitating for an end to abortion and family planning services. It will simply be a false reason to restrict government funding and propagandize the issue. That it’s false doesn’t mean it won’t be used to ‘good’ effect by the people already looking for an excuse. I hope I’m wrong but I’m not going to hold my breath.

  8. Elaine M,

    Thanks for the MediaMatters post. With Ms. Rose’s history, and her affilations with James O’Keefe, I do not believe for one minute that what she says is the unedited version is, in fact, unedited.

    It boggles my mind that she and, by extension James O’Keefe, tout their journalistic “integrity” and search for truth, resort to such tactics. But, as we know, they have no integrity, and their true mission isn’t seeking truth. That their only mission is to slander, demonize and potentially ruin those organizations that help those who the Lila Rose’s et al deem unworthy to their definition of society.

    Kudos to PP for beating her to the punch.

  10. Tony & SL,

    From Media Matters (2/1/2011)
    HOAX VIDEO EXPOSED: Planned Parenthood Already Reported “Sex Trafficking” To FBI
    http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102010014

    Excerpt:

    Today, anti-abortion rights propagandist Lila Rose released her latest in a series of heavily edited videos seeking to demonstrate that Planned Parenthood engages in criminal activities. Rose’s organization, Live Action, claims their video exposes what they call “Planned Parenthood’s cover-up of child sex trafficking.”

    Except that isn’t what the video shows at all.

    Rather, the Live Action video shows edited comments made by a single Planned Parenthood employee. Live Action has so far refused to publicly release the full video of the incident, instead posting what the organization itself admits is an “abridged 11-minute video.” (Live Action claims they are “sending full footage” to law enforcement officials.) [UPDATE: Live Action subsequently released what they say is the full video.]

    Is Live Action accurately portraying the Planned Parenthood employee’s statements and actions? It’s impossible to say for sure without the full video, but there is good reason for media to be skeptical. Lila Rose, after all, began infiltrating abortion clinics in collaboration with James O’Keefe — a convicted criminal who repeatedly lied about his heavily edited ACORN videos. Rose herself has a history of smearing the subjects of her videos.

    But even if Live Action’s video doesn’t take the employee out of context, the incident obviously doesn’t show Planned Parenthood covering up child sex trafficking. That’s because Planned Parenthood has already reported the “potential sex trafficking” to law enforcement officials.

    **********

    Thanks for the links.

    BTW, you’ll find a link to the video in the Media Matters article.

  11. Sigh.

    AP Exclusive: Planned Parenthood seeks FBI probe

    “NEW YORK — Planned Parenthood, a perennial protest target because of its role in providing abortions, has notified the FBI that at least 12 of its health centers were visited recently by a man purporting to be a sex trafficker but who may instead be part of an attempted ruse to entrap clinic employees.

    In each case, according to Planned Parenthood, the man sought to speak privately with a clinic employee and then requested information about health services for sex workers, including some who he said were minors and in the U.S. illegally.

    Planned Parenthood’s vice president for communications, Stuart Schear, said the organization has requested an FBI probe of the man’s claims and has already fielded some initial FBI inquiries. However, Schear said Planned Parenthood’s own investigation indicates that the man has links with Live Action, an anti-abortion group that has conducted previous undercover projects aimed at discrediting the nation’s leading abortion provider.

    Lila Rose, Live Action’s founder and president, described Planned Parenthood’s assertion as “very interesting.” She declined to confirm or deny that the clinic visits were part of a Live Action operation, but did indicate in a telephone interview that an undercover videotape project of some sort was in the works.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/24/AR2011012404462.html

    Andy Not-So-Bright is at it again. He posted the hack job on his award-winning, truly honest website, “Big Journalism.”

  13. Thanks for the links Elaine!

    This movement at the grassroots level is inspired IMO by the religious concept of the proper role for women, which is to be submissive to her ‘men’ and a vessel for new life. Women, in this world view, have no Constitutional right to privacy (or any other rights, not even to decent treatment- see below) when that right infringes their role as biblically dictated.

    “Mrs. Pastor Steven L. “Zsuzsanna” Anderson answers the question, “Should a wife divorce an abusive husband:”

    The only Biblical recourse for a horrible marriage, or any marriage for that matter, is death. If your husband is an abusive, mean, hateful, fill-in-the-blank jerk in spite of you doing your best as a wife, God can kill him whenever He wants to. If he is still alive, God must want you to still be married to him. A wife could pray and fast for her husband/marriage, and for the kids to turn out right in spite of marital problems. If nothing else, it will be a great lesson for the kids, who hopefully will grow up and make wiser and more careful choices regarding their future spouse, rather than learning that marriage can be dissolved at a whim.”

    http://stevenandersonfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/so-youre-married-to-jerk.html?showComment=1295494916994#c5069084393664801258

  14. Swarthmore mom,

    Planned Parenthood jumped on this very quickly (week if the 16th) and called the FBI and wrote a letter to Eric Holder regarding the possibility of human trafficking. That hasn’t kept the propagandists at Live Action from posting their ‘investigation’ but I’m hoping it brings some heat down on them.

    AP report in the Washington Post 1-24-11:

    “AP Exclusive: Planned Parenthood seeks FBI probe”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/24/AR2011012404462.html

  15. Yeah, I have to say I tweet because I seldom find anything that needs more than 140 characters to say. I’m not one of nature’s bloggers.

  16. I often post on fb, because I think so many people are not getting the message and mainstream media sucks these days. One thing I have noticed….I most often hear things via blogs and fb loooooooong before the newscasts. I am reluctant though, to change my brain chemistry to reflect the tweetsters….theres just not enuff info to do justice to the thought…

  18. I got a little vexed about this and tweeted as follows:

    http://twitter.com/TonySidaway/status/32509798419275776

    ‘Extreme right #GOP #rape bill “a violent act against women” http://dlvr.it/FZZx0 #abortion #misogyny #culturewar’

    The only thing I’d change, on reflection,is “#culturewar”. This is actually about a war against women.

    You might like to retweet that, or make up your own tweet. The politicians, you know, take notice of the social media, not only on influential blogs like this, but on the big social spaces such as Facebook (spits) and Twitter.

  19. Elaine M,

    Thanks for the links – sheds more light on this shame the GOP is trying to do.

    I admire Rep. Wasserman Schultz for her speaking out about this. I am curious as to why more women in Congress aren’t following suit.

  20. ‘Wasserman Schultz also said the bill contradicted the GOP’s core political philosophy.

    “Even though Republicans say they want government out of our lives, this is the most intrusive governmental act that we’ve probably seen to date in the personal lives of women,” she said.

    hear! hear!

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