A GOP lawmaker used the phrase 'consensual rape' during abortion debate. He says he misspoke. [View all]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/05/17/gop-lawmaker-used-phrase-consensual-rape-during-abortion-debate-he-says-he-misspoke/?fbclid=IwAR0vD_3t6Wr9pcxD4mmkcn2NsfTRIduwqBVkJu3dGE7zPgonZdl0tfU9tj0&utm_term=.6853b307dd23

A Republican Missouri legislator apologized Friday for using the phrase “consensual rape” during a debate over a new, restrictive antiabortion bill.

“I’m not trying to make excuses,” said Rep. Barry Hovis, who represents the city of Jackson in southeastern Missouri. “Sometimes you make a mistake and you own up to it.”

The lawmaker, who was elected in 2018, made the remark while arguing on the State House floor that the measure’s eight-week window for abortions gives rape survivors “ample time” for the procedure. Critics say many women do not know they are pregnant until after eight weeks, and the bill provides no exceptions for rape or incest.

The 30-year veteran of the Cape Girardeau Police Department then touched on his experience handling rape cases.

“Let’s just say someone goes out and they’re raped or they’re sexually assaulted one night after a college party — because most of my rapes were not the gentleman jumping out of the bushes that nobody had ever met,” Hovis said. “That was one or two times out of a hundred. Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes, which were all terrible.”

Link to tweet

Rep. Raychel Proudie, a Democrat, quickly rebuked him.

“There is no such thing, no such thing as consensual rape,” she said to applause from the chamber.