Rape-abortion bill causes uproar in N.M.

[Eugene]

Source: CBS News

CBS News/ January 25, 2013, 8:03 AM

Rape-abortion bill causes uproar in N.M.

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.

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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."

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"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."

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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.

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Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57565809/rape-abortion-bill-causes-uproar-in-n.m/

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

[Viking12]

1. It's just a messaging problem

See, you just don't understand, that's why you think it's so bad. When they explain it differently, you'll think it's peachy.

[another_liberal]

2. A rape victim . . .

A rape victim who attempts to get an abortion is guilty of "tampering with evidence"! Will the authorities start seizing women who have been raped and storing them in evidence lockers like they do hair and blood samples found at crime scenes? This is a sick and repulsive piece of legislation, and those who thought it up are equally sick and repulsive themselves.

[MadrasT]

3. This country has lost its collective fucking mind.

That's all I got, I am otherwise rendered speechless.

[Demo_Chris]

4. Can we FINALLY ditch religion? Kinda tired of the carnage.

I mean, I know it's just women and gays and heretics, but isn't it time to put stone age bullshit behind us?

[randome]

5. "...with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime."

It's a stupid bill but the loophole in the language is even more stupid. They can't even do 'stupid' as well as they used to.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. So exactly who drafted the bill? What anti-abortion organization?

[Ilsa]

7. Geez. I could make a case for REQUIRING an abortion of

a pregnancy caused by rape in order to gather and preserve the evidence (DNA of conceptus).

But I wouldn't propose such a thing because It's the woman's choice as to whether she has an abortion or carries to term!