Indiana lawmaker: Women will fake their own rape or incest to get an abortion

woman with hand over mouth and liar written on the palm of her other hand

Hey ladies! Are you “desirous of an abortion” but unsure of how to get one (since extreme anti-choice provisions might make access illegal) or pay for it (since of course it’s not covered under your health insurance plan)? Well then BOY do I have the LOOPHOLE for you!!

It’s “simple” according to Rep. Eric Turner, a [male] Republican from Indiana who introduced an anti-abortion bill in the Indiana House that “would put some of the tightest abortion restrictions in the nation into Indiana law.” All you have to do is lie about being raped.

According to Think Progress, Turner took to the podium to defend against an amendment by state Rep. Gail Riecken (D) that would have created a few exceptions to an extreme anti-abortion bill:

“Riecken introduced an amendment to exempt ‘women who became pregnant due to rape or incest, or women for whom pregnancy threatens their life or could cause serious and irreversible physical harm’ from being forced to carry to term. Fearing this bill would ‘push women to the back alleys’ for illegal abortions, Riecken pleaded with lawmakers to allow women to make the choice in these cases.

Turner then stepped to the podium and insisted that Riecken’s amendment would create a ‘giant loophole’ for women. That loophole? Women ‘could simply say they’ve been raped’:

TURNER: With all do respect to Rep. Riecken, I understand what she’s trying to do. But as you know that when the federal health care bill was going through Congress there was a lot of discussion whether this would allow for abortion coverage and of course we were all told it would not. And the bill, my house bill 1210, would prevent that for any insurance company to provide abortion coverage under federal health care bill. This [amendment] would open that window and I would ask you to oppose this amendment.

I just want you to think about this, in my view, giant loophole that could be created where someone who could — now i want to be careful, I don’t want to disparage in any way someone who has gone through the experience of a rape or incest — but someone who is desirous of an abortion could simply say that they’ve been raped or there’s incest.

[Emphasis mine.]

Hey Turner. The fact that you think it’s “simple” for women to say they’ve been raped or are a survivor of incest shows just how out of touch you are. And your acknowledgment that women would need to LIE just to access basic healthcare if your bill passes shows that you know what you’re doing: denying women the care they need and want, to the point of desperation. Which somehow makes your accusation of their lack of trustworthiness all the more shameless.

Video is below.

Brooklyn, NY

Lori Adelman started blogging with Feministing in 2008, and now runs partnerships and strategy as a co-Executive Director. She is also the Director of Youth Engagement at Women Deliver, where she promotes meaningful youth engagement in international development efforts, including through running the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program. Lori was formerly the Director of Global Communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and has also worked at the United Nations Foundation on the Secretary-General's flagship Every Woman Every Child initiative, and at the International Women’s Health Coalition and Human Rights Watch. As a leading voice on women’s rights issues, Lori frequently consults, speaks and publishes on feminism, activism and movement-building. A graduate of Harvard University, Lori has been named to The Root 100 list of the most influential African Americans in the United States, and to Forbes Magazine‘s list of the “30 Under 30” successful mediamakers. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lori Adelman is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Partnerships.

Read more about Lori

Join the Conversation