New Mexico Bill Would Criminalize Abortions After Rape

New Mexico Bill Would Criminalize Abortions After Rape As 'Tampering With Evidence'

This is disgraceful! GOP Representative Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), has set a new low for the war on woman's reproductive rights, by forcing a rape victim to carry her pregnancy to term, under the guise of "evidence of sexual assault. I can't think of a more demeaning way to treat and punish a woman for the crime of being raped!

What kind of respect for life does this message send to a child who is an unwanted reminder of a despicable act and who's existence is justified by and labeled as mere evidence of a crime!

House Bill 206, introduced by state Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for "tampering with evidence."

“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," the bill says.

This is absolutely unnecessary because the aborted fetus contains ample evidence of parentage without forcing the victim to give birth.

Under this law, if a rape victim gets an abortion, she faces up to 3 years in prison for felony charges!

Pat Davis of ProgressNow New Mexico, a progressive nonprofit opposing the bill, called it "blatantly unconstitutional" on Thursday. “The bill turns victims of rape and incest into felons and forces them to become incubators of evidence for the state,” he said. “According to Republican philosophy, victims who are ‘legitimately raped’ will now have to carry the fetus to term in order to prove their case.“

Fortunately, there isn't a change in heck that this will pass, but it goes to show how far the radical pro-life community will go to waste lawmakers time, ignoring their "job creation" promises and other legislative duties, to fight against a woman's right to choice over her own body!

This is all pretty ridiculous. As a person who leans more to the right, it seems so hypocritical that the republicans who preach for small government that stays out of your affairs will try to regulate who can do what with their body.

And they wonder why the election went the way it did.

reply to post by Grimpachi


They must have thought referring to rape babies as gifts from god was the ace up their sleeve to win the election.

Originally posted by Grimpachi
And they wonder why the election went the way it did.

And why they will lose the house in 2014.

It's a woman's idea!

This is hilarious! Considering that The Republican Party seeks to Learn from their Mistakes...

If the GOP wants to be relevant in the next presidential election, they need to get rid of the whack-jobs in 2014. I'll be doing my best to that end. I'm in New Mexico.

reply to post by CALGARIAN


Have you seen her? Rape is the last thing she'd ever have to worry about happening to her. It did surprise me however that it was a female proposing this.

Another proposed state law that will never hold up under a Supreme Court challenge.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
This is hilarious! Considering that The Republican Party seeks to Learn from their Mistakes...

If the GOP wants to be relevant in the next presidential election, they need to get rid of the whack-jobs in 2014.

I'll be doing my best to that end. I'm in New Mexico.

I hope they keep up this BS.. it wont pass anyway.. but keep showing how out of touch they are. Gives us Libertarians a chance to win an election.

reply to post by usernameconspiracy


Politicians should be penalized pay when they come up with legislation that gets shot down. Maybe it would encourage them to stop coming up with crack-pot legislation. Something along the lines of refunding everybody's taxes whatever money was wasted in coming up with a stupid bill.

reply to post by danneu89


Right?! Like when a person has to pay another's court and legal costs for filing a "frivolous lawsuit." There should be some kind of accountability/compensation to the people who pay their salary when lawmakers come up with "frivolous bills."

Way to go !!

It is not enough to tramatiz a woman for a short time by rape.
She should also be tramatized again by giving birth or sent to jail for trying to save her sanity.

This justice bit just keeps getting better and better.

reply to post by windword


When will politicians learn to leave abortion out of politics. It isn't there business. If a woman is raped let abort the child. It's conceived out of hate and torture. It's her choice completely.

reply to post by windword

The war on women has never been more clear. What surprises me is that, in this case, the battle is being waged by a woman against her own sex.

Obviously our lawmakers are not serving us as they should be. If they were, proposed legislation like this would never see the light of day.

Interestingly, she is now saying it was a "drafting error" and it's not what she meant the bill to say... I think more likely, she didn't realize the repercussions and is now trying to back out...

Source

Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, said Brown's intent was to focus on a perpetrator, such as a stepfather who raped a teen, impregnated her and then demanded that she get an abortion.

Brown did not want to put any onus on a rape victim, Gentry said.

An attorney, Brown said her practice is to edit a bill carefully before releasing it. This time, a drafting error occurred and she was not diligent enough so it got through, she said.

I'm not buying it Ms. Brown...

Text of Bill

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


That's not how american politics works
She meant it or did not mean it.. that's irrelevant

Every district/state has it's share of hardcore righties and hardcore lefties
As long as you say what those hardcore'ers want to hear no matter how stupid it is then there's nothing to fear.

Think about that the next time you say this Repub or that Dem is an idiot
They are not idiots, they just don't care.

Politics is corrupt, being anti-abortion or anti-gay rights will not make anyone rich
Being pro-gay is not going to make a politician rich either

That's why none of this matters and truthfully BH it doesn't matter to the left either
You guys get angry at republican debates when they are asked "what do you do a man is about to die but can't afford a surgery" and people yelled "LET HIM DIEE"
The left got super angry at that and then turn around and elect Obama so more kids can get bombed.

Everyone is a hypocrite and what comes out of the mouth of a politician carries no weight to them or to you.

Yes it's that sad!

Side A : Wants to criminalize abortion

Side B: Wants to criminalize gun ownership

And some are delusional to think one side is better than the other.

How about a "compromise" ?

Keep your hands off my guns I will keep my hands off your womb.

Come on now that is a fair trade.

Originally posted by Advantage

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
This is hilarious! Considering that The Republican Party seeks to Learn from their Mistakes...

If the GOP wants to be relevant in the next presidential election, they need to get rid of the whack-jobs in 2014.

I'll be doing my best to that end. I'm in New Mexico.

I hope they keep up this BS.. it wont pass anyway.. but keep showing how out of touch they are. Gives us Libertarians a chance to win an election.

I’m a conservative (about as right as they come) and I surely don’t agree with this garbage. I think you’re seeing the fringe element of the religious right pushing buttons here. This kind of crap costs us elections.

This isn’t conservatives pushing this…..or mainstream GOP…..it’s the religious fringe (a small portion….more prevalent in the south). Don’t be dishonest and lump us all together as if this is a mainstream position of the right.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Interestingly, she is now saying it was a "drafting error" and it's not what she meant the bill to say... I think more likely, she didn't realize the repercussions and is now trying to back out...

Source

Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, said Brown's intent was to focus on a perpetrator, such as a stepfather who raped a teen, impregnated her and then demanded that she get an abortion.

Brown did not want to put any onus on a rape victim, Gentry said.

An attorney, Brown said her practice is to edit a bill carefully before releasing it. This time, a drafting error occurred and she was not diligent enough so it got through, she said.

I'm not buying it Ms. Brown...

Text of Bill

Or even more likely she knew what she was proposing, tried to pull a fast one, and got busted. Putting aside political labels for a moment, how does someone like her even get elected? Does she lie to her constituents, or do they honestly believe in what she says?