Gov. Greg Abbott and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezcriticizedTexas Gov. Greg Abbotton Tuesday for his “deep ignorance” on abortions after the republican defendedhis state’s controversial ban on the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.
Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, New York democrat Ocasio-Cortez said that Abbott “speaks from such a place of deep ignorance … and it’s not just ignorance, it’s ignorance that’s hurting people across this country.”
Earlier that day, Abbott had spoken in support ofhis state’s new law, whichbans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people are aware they are pregnant, and provides no exceptions for rape or incest.
“In case no one has informed him before in his life, six weeks pregnant means two weeks late on your period,” she continued. “And two weeks late on your period, for any person with a menstrual cycle, can happen if you’re stressed, if your diet changes, or for really no reason at all. So you don’t have six weeks.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who shared in February thatshe is a survivor of sexual assault, pointed out that rapists “aren’t just predators that are walking around the streets at night.”
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The Texas Department of Safety reported more than 14,000 cases of rape in a 2019 study,according to theAustin American-Statesman. In contrast, 2,200 people were arrested for rape that year. According toa 2015 studyfrom the University of Texas' Institute on Domestic Violence, more than a third of Texans have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime and more than 90% of assaults go unreported.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke further on Texas' abortion ban in a series of tweets.
“Sexual assault is an abuse of power that attempts to seize sexual control over another person’s body. Anti-choice laws are also an abuse of power that attempts to seize sexual control over people’s bodies en masse,” she said. “And that’s 1 way rape culture informs anti-choice legislation.”
On Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the Justice Department islooking at “all options"to remove the law and will work to help abortion clinics in the state that are “under attack.” The conservative-leaning Supreme Court is expected to look at the law and whether it and other similar abortion bans in additional states are in violation of the precedents established with Roe v. Wade.
source: people.com
