Missouri lawmaker pushes for law requiring consent of the “father” to get an abortion

Missouri state representative Rick Brattin is pushing for a law that would require the consent of the “father” to get an abortion. The text of the bill, which is unlikely to pass and perhaps even less likely to stand as constitutional if it did, reads: “No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion.” 

If you are impregnated by rape, Brattin will oh-so-kindly exempt you from getting your rapist’s permission — as long as it was a “legitimate rape,” that is. Yup, Brattin is apparently the very last politician in the US who hasn’t gotten the memo that you should steer clear of terms like “legitimate rape.” He explained to Mother Jones, “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.” In a country in which only 3 percent result in a conviction, he adds that if you’re raped, “I’d think you’d be able to prove that.”

Mother Jones also asked Brattin if he would support an exception for women whose partners are abusive. He replied, “I haven’t really thought about that aspect of it.” He should have left it at that — which would have been bad enough. Instead, he decided to think it through out loud: “What does that have to do with the child’s life? Just because it was an abusive relationship, does that mean the child should die?” Women can always just get protective custody after the child is born, he notes.