You know that Todd Akin believes women can't get pregnant from rape, and Richard Moudock believes if they do that it's God's will, and that Joe Walsh believes pregnant women can't die of complications because medical science is so advanced. But did you know that a woman is only raped if she knows her attacker? Welcome to Pennsylvania.
The idea is that if a woman is on public assistance (TANF) and she becomes pregnant, she cannot get any additional monies for said child unless she's raped, reports the rape, and includes the identity of the rapist.
Where to start? Said woman is POOR. She probably doesn't have access to birth control because of the cuts to Medicaid due to the Corbett administration. She also may well have lost part of her general assistance and food stamps due to, again, the Corbett administration. She also likely has little access to prenatal care, increasing the likelihood of giving birth to a child with various problems that require medical attention for which the newborn will not qualify. She certainly can't get an abortion.
And the father? She may well not know her attacker. In which case, it's pretty hard to identify him. But in certain ways, it may be fatal for her if she does know her attacker. If it's a violent boyfriend/husband and she turns him in, when he gets out on bail (and he will) he may well kill her. And the statistics for rapists getting convicted are terrible: only 3% go to prison. (Source) Thus, a terrible choice for the woman and her fetus.
Need a reason to vote the Republicans out? This is another one.
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