Appalling

Indiana Republicans are about to force through one of the most restrictive abortion bills in the country; the law would make all abortions illegal after 20 weeks.

When state Rep. Gail Riecken (D) introduced an amendment that would create exceptions for victims of rape or incest, the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Eric Turner (R), took the podium and said Riecken was trying to create a “giant loophole” — because women “could simply say they’ve been raped.”

TURNER: With all do respect to Rep. Riecken, I understand what she’s trying to do. But as you know that when the federal health care bill was going through Congress there was a lot of discussion whether this would allow for abortion coverage and of course we were all told it would not. And the bill, my house bill 1210, would prevent that for any insurance company to provide abortion coverage under federal health care bill. This [amendment] would open that window and I would ask you to oppose this amendment. I just want you to think about this, in my view, giant loophole that could be created where someone who could — now i want to be careful, I don’t want to disparage in any way someone who has gone through the experience of a rape or incest — but someone who is desirous of an abortion could simply say that they’ve been raped or there’s incest.

The amendment was voted down.