In 2021,the Texas legislature adopted a ban on abortions from the time of “fertilization” until birth. The law imposed criminal and civil penalties for any person performing an abortion, but not on the mother. The only exception included in the law was for cases where the pregnancy posed a risk of death or “substantial impairment of a major bodily function” to the mother. There is no exception for pregnancies that are the result of a rape or incest.
Last year,14,232 rapes were reported in Texas. We do not know how many of those rapes resulted in a pregnancy, but several studies seeking to determine what percentage of sexual assaults result in pregnancies indicate it was probably in the 500-2,000 range – and that a significant number of them were minors. Therefore, it is likely that about 1,000 rape victims every year will now be legally required by Texas law to continue their pregnancy to full term.
To most Texans this is unacceptable. A recent University of Texas poll (see p. 172) found that 79%of Texans believe there should be an exception to Texas’ abortion ban for cases of rape and incest. I did a poll of my readers earlier this year and over 90% supported such an exception.
Two bills have been filed in the current legislature by Democrats which would add an exception for rape and incest (HB797, SB122). However, these bills do not have any limitation on how far into the pregnancy an abortion could be performed, and they specify that a woman would not be required to file a police report.
Both the University of Texas poll and my reader survey strongly indicated that a rape victim should have a limited time to have an abortion performed, with most believing the abortion should be performed in the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy. A clear majority opposed an exception beyond 24 weeks.
I have not found any polling on whether a rape victim should be required to file a police report to have an abortion, but I suspect there would be widespread support for such a requirement.
The current Texas law reflects the view of a small minority of Texans who believe “life” begins at conception and that from that moment forward the fetus is entitled to the same protection under the law as a person who has been born. The problem is that the question of when life begins is a metaphysical one which cannot be objectively settled. Any individual’s view on that question is based on their moral views, often inspired by their religious beliefs. While I respect an individual’s right to hold that view, the imposition of what is fundamentally a religious value of a small minority on the majority is antithetical to democracy.
There are those who condemn this minority as being cruel and unsympathetic to the trauma of rape victims. I think such critics fail to appreciate how fervently this minority holds their view that a life has been created at conception. Also, many of those who view life beginning at conception are still nonetheless deeply conflicted over the issue of a pregnancy that is a result of rape. Also, I suspect that while most of those individuals say they support requiring a rape victim to carry their attacker’s child to full term, they would find that proposition easier to support in the abstract than they would if confronted with an actual victim’s plight – especially if the victim was a member of their own family.
But rather than blame the 13% of Texans who do not think there should be an exception or incest in the current Texas law, we should be blaming our terribly dysfunctional election system which forces the moderate, commonsense majority to choose between two ideologically extreme parties. This issue is a case in point. The Republicans want no exception. The Democrats want an exception which can be exercised at any time during pregnancy and with no requirement to file a police report. The polling indicates that the former position represents about13% of Texans and the latter only 29% of Texans. Under our current system, the 58% of us who do not agree with either party are simply left out in the cold.
