You’ve likely seen abortion advocates’ viral claims that the Texas Heartbeat Act will allow rapists to sue their pregnant victims along with anyone who helps those women to procure an abortion. But as with much of the rhetoric that surrounds abortion, this is false — the law in Texas actually specifically prohibits this.
SB 8, known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortion once an embryonic heartbeat can be detected, typically around six weeks of pregnancy. The human heart first begins beating 16 to 22 days after fertilization, making the circulatory system the first system to begin working, pumping blood to the brain and sustaining the preborn child’s life.
Facebook meme makes false claims about Texas Heartbeat Act
The law allows private citizens to file a civil lawsuit against the abortionist or anyone who abetted in procuring an abortion after the child has a beating heart — except for the mother. Abortion advocates are spreading misinformation claiming that this means a rapist could sue — and be rewarded with $10,000 — if his victim undergoes an abortion after the six-week mark.
This is FALSE.
The Texas Heartbeat Act clearly states (emphasis added):
Notwithstanding any other law, a civil action under this section may not be brought by a person who impregnated the abortion patient through an act of rape, sexual assault, incest, or any other act prohibited by Sections 22.011, 22.021, or 25.02, Penal Code.
A rapist or sexual abuser can not take civil action against anyone involved in the abortion, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he is committed to arresting every rapist. Even babies conceived in sexual assault deserve to be protected from a violent death by abortion, and rape survivors who become pregnant and carry to term report better emotional and mental health than those who underwent abortions. Abbott noted, “Rape is a crime and Texas will work tirelessly that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”
Abortion advocates frequently use rape as a justification for legalized abortion for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy, though according to statistics, rape is given as the reason for 1% of all abortions. Women who become pregnant from rape and choose life for their babies are often shamed, with their babies referred to in the most hateful of terms. So where is the pro-abortion care and concern for rape victims who choose life?
READ: What else is Texas doing to help women and children? A lot, it turns out.
“The Left is spinning some serious #fakenews gold about Texas’ #heartbeatbill,” said pro-life group The Radiance Foundation on Facebook. “Unsurprisingly, they’re feigning outrage over the abortion ban because of rape. Nothing says pro-abortion activism like exploiting the 1% of abortions to justify 100% of abortions. Stop pushing the (profitable) violence of abortion as a solution to the violence of rape. Those who experience it need wholeness and healing… not abortion hucksters.” The group’s leader, Ryan Bomberger, was conceived in rape and adopted.
The pro-life group goes on to ask why, if abortion enthusiasts “are truly concerned for the crime of rape” they would be “completely silent over #PlannedParenthood being repeatedly sued for NOT reporting rape?” And why they would remain “silent about #PlannedParenthood spokespeople joking and/or lying about rape (e.g. Sarah Silverman, Lena Dunham)?” And why “don’t they ever talk about punishing the rapist?”
Live Action’s Aiding Abusers investigation found repeated instances of Planned Parenthood covering up sexual assault and even instructing undercover sex traffickers on how they could pose as the guardians for their victims in order to procure abortions for them. Planned Parenthood has a history of sending assault victims as young as 12 years old back to their abusers after committing an abortion on them.
Abortion advocates never seem to call out the abortion industry, like the profitable Planned Parenthood, for aiding and abetting rapists and abusers — instead, with glaring hypocrisy, they choose to attack the pro-life movement seeking to protect both women and children through the passage of pro-life laws.
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