Rape-abortion bill causes uproar in N.M.

Rep. Cathrynn Brown , R-Carlsbad, whose proposed abortion bill would have exposed rape and incest victims to felony charges if they obtained an abortion. / KRQE

SANTA FE, N.M. A Republican legislator came under fire for her proposed law that, critics said, could lead to felony charges against rape or incest victims seeking an abortion.

On Wednesday Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, introduced House Bill 206, which she said was intended to make it a crime for a rapist to force his pregnant victim to have an abortion.

Within hours the bill drew national attention for a section that reads:

"Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime."

That would appear to open up rape or incest victims to felony charges, punishable by up to three years in prison, if they obtain an abortion, reports CBS Affiliate KRQE.

The chairman of New Mexico's Democratic Party called it an "atrocious piece of legislation."

"I was shocked in reading it," Rep. Gail Chasey , D-Albuquerque," told KRQE correspondent Alex Goldsmith. "As an attorney I started looking at it and thought that's not how we gather evidence in a rape anyway, so it doesn't even make sense logically."

"I can't judge her intent, but to me it feels like an extension of the war on women," said Rep. Elizabeth Thomson , D-Albuquerque.

After telling KRQE that critics were simply misreading her bill, Brown later told the station that the language was a mistake made by the bill's drafter, an error she says she missed when reviewing the bill before introducing it.

"When he fixed some of the tampering language in the bill, somehow it just kind of missed the emphasis that I had hoped I'd made clear in the beginning," Brown told KRQE.

Brown will introduce a new bill that makes it clear that rape or incest victims could not be charged with tampering with evidence for getting an abortion.

Another abortion-related proposal has been raised in Santa Fe this session. Rep. Nora Espinoza , R-Roswell, has introduced the "Woman's Right to Know Act" that would require doctors performing an abortion to first show the woman an ultrasound and have her hear a fetus' heartbeat.

[Namasmama]

"After telling KRQE that critics were simply misreading her bill, Brown
later told the station that the language was a mistake made by the
bill's drafter, an error she says she missed when reviewing the bill
before introducing it."

OBVIOUSLY, this was a hugely unjust bill that received such scathing
response that Brown was later forced to make her piddly-ass excuses that
it was "misread" and then later that it was an error in her review
process. There was no mistake on her part -- the mistake was that this
idiot got elected in the first place.

[Namasmama]

I am grateful the GOP continues to blatently make fools of themselves.
In fact, now some in their party are calling themselves stupid, "we have to be less stupid" says bobby jindle.

Wow, these discussions need to remain in the forefront.
The more issues like these, and the blatent GERIMANDERING of red maps and redistricting, stealing elections by purging legitmate registered voters, creating long lines at the polls, asking for voters to produce IDs they dont have weeks before elections, and the other behaviors they have been practicing since they stole the election in 2000 for shrub jr., the GOP is proving who they really are.
They are the shrinking minority, and their positions and views support that.
Gays, black, women, Latinos, poor, middle class, Asians, and all other "others" ARE the new MAJORITY.
Sorry guys, rape is not an act of God to bring a child into the world.

[marychgo]

What kind of egotistical power-tripping convinces ANYONE, male or female, they have the right to declare "There is no excuse for a woman to have an abortion! NONE!," as JV does. What makes her think SHE has the right to make that judgment -- and enforce it -- upon roughly 158 million females in the U.S., not to mention roughly 3.5 billion females in the world?
I'm humble enough to believe that women who are actually facing that issue are in a better position to weigh all the variables in light of their own moral commitments than me, or JV, or a bunch of politicians!

[WhereisOT]

"brown later told the station that the language was a mistake made by the bill's drafter, an error she says she missed when reviewing the bill before introducing it"

Must be A joke right...
As it is when it comes to the nuts who demand Government stay out of Peoples lives as they Use Government to systematically attack Peoples lives every which way....in every red State..
Pathetic..

[Namasmama]

Except, NM and Santa Fe in particular is a BLUE state.
It's the southern moron section that is red.

[Namasmama]

Except, NM and Santa Fe in particular is a BLUE state.
It's the southern moron section that is red.

[dtschuck]

Why is it that when a stupid magnet is laying about, that Republican legislators are drawn to it like iron filings?

[Namasmama]

What about their voters, they are lemmings too.

[outback_jackson]

JV1970 replies: "I don't think a woman should get an abortion under any circumstance and Roe v. Wade should be overturned and all abortions should be outlawed".



Your archaic social conservative beliefs are exactly what is shrinking your republican party of extremists, as the majority of Americans try to distance themselves from outdated ideology in the 21st century.


Poll: Majority of Americans now support legal abortion in all or most cases

The new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Tuesday further found that more than seven in ten Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, the controversial Supreme Court decision which sealed abortion as a woman's right.

[Lindag20]

It's fun to see JV out in full cry supporting this crazy woman who wants to jail women who get an abortion if they become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. Birds of a feather no doubt.

[JV1970]

Lindag20 Yes and proudly so!

[outback_jackson]

This rabid social conservatism is why the republican party is shrinking!

[Namasmama]

Keep it up GOP, this is why you will never win the public over.
The only way the GOP can get elected is by GERIMANDERING the redistricting of maps to "fix" election in their favor.
Try joining the majority of the population who don't think rape is a act of God, or that a woman can shut her body down after rape, or who distinguish between "LEGITIMATE RAPE" and ILLEGITMATE RAPE.
Thank you Paul Ryan, Todd Akin, and Murdock.
Because of this thinking you will never legitimately win another national election.

[outback_jackson]

Yes, the GOP is rapidly shrinking because of their far-right social conservative beliefs, and will only be able to win elections in the future by rigging or stealing them as America changes.

[SunLily2]

For those who say I should listen to an aborted baby scream and cry for the rest of my life ... I hope you hear the screams and cries of a woman being raped for the rest of yours.

[SunLily2]

It disturbs me that so many people like to tell a rape victim what to do. Many rapists WANT their victims to get pregnant because not only does it procreate their genes BUT it ruins their victims' lives.

9 months of pregnancy is VERY difficult. Just ask any husband with a pregnant wife. Yet you are telling RAPE & INCEST VICTIMS to suffer through 9 months of hell alone.

The day PRO-LIFE people open up PRO-LIFE clinics to help with FREE maternity care, FREE psychiatric care, FREE food, FREE delivery, and FREE childcare then I will believe that PRO-LIFE believers truly care about the baby.

I do NOT believe its right to destroy one life to save another. It just give rapists MORE reasons to rape.

[JV1970]

Those innocent babies didn't rape them! Why should the babies die for something that wasn't their fault and that they had no part in?

The ones who should suffer should be the rapists not the babies!

[Lindag20]

JV: Obviously you don't care about the women who have been raped or you'd sing a different tune. More frustrated spinster stuff coming out of your mouth.