The House Judiciary Committee debated legislation (H.R. 7) that could force survivors of sexual violence to recount their assaults to, not counselors or law enforcement, but to guess who? Internal Revenue Service agents.
Representative Chris Smith, R-N.J., is sponsoring a bill that requires women who needed abortion care and are also survivors of sexual violence to prove to IRS auditors that the assault occurred.
It sounds ridiculous and offensive but it’s true.
Shaming victims of sexual assault is not new for Republicans. Remember former Wisconsin state Rep. Roger Rivard told a newspaper reporter that his father advised him: “some girls rape easy?” In 2012, he lost his re-election bid against Democrat Stephen Smith.
In an effort to uphold his stance on abortion Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri said in 2012, “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”
Let’s not forget Paul Ryan and Akin’s quest to redefine rape. These two original co-sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” were trying to push through H.R. 3, where only victims of “forcible rape” would qualify for federally funded abortions, excluding statutory rape victims and victims of incest.
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