Some leaders in states with strict bans on abortion say exceptions for rape or incest victims aren’t needed because emergency contraceptives can be used instead
state Rep. Doug Gilliam, point to emergency contraceptives as a reason abortion bans don't need exceptions for rape or incest.During an Aug. 31 House debate, Gilliam said, in a hypothetical case of a 12-year-old raped by her father, the child would have “choices” and wouldn’t be “forced” to carry a pregnancy. Among them, he said, she could go to the hospital and get an emergency contraceptive, or go to the store and get one without a prescription.
Pressed by a fellow lawmaker on who would take the girl to the store to get the pill, he initially replied “The ambulance,” then corrected himself and said, “The hospital when she’s there." In a follow-up interview with The Associated Press, the Republican lawmaker said he did not mean to suggest that an ambulance would take a girl to a store, but that if she were to go to the hospital, she would likely be offered emergency contraception.
“I don’t want anybody to think that I told you a 12-year-old that just been raped … is going to call an ambulance to go to a store,” he said. “I just let them know the options were out there, and one of them was emergency medical contraceptives.”Most rape victims don't report the crime to law enforcement, according to Jude Foster, advocacy medical forensic and prevention programs director for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Many also may not go in for immediate medical care.
“Why is sexual assault used as a political football when you are talking about access to reproductive care?” Foster said. “Please don’t. It just really frustrates me.”“We need all kinds of options for women because nothing is a one size fits all,” Stone said. “People have transportation problems, they have financial problems. There are always barriers to some percentage of women that will keep them from accessing this in the short time frame that they have.
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