Arguments over rape and incest leave abortion opponents divided
Washington - Even as the anti-abortion movement celebrates the sweeping bans passed in several states, it's divided by a widening rift over whether those prohibitions should apply to victims of rape and incest.
Divisions over rape-and-incest exceptions have existed within the anti-abortion movement for years, but have become more apparent as several states in the South and Midwest enacted tough bans on abortion. Emboldened by the bans, 17 anti-abortion leaders sent a letter Wednesday to Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel requesting a meeting and urging the GOP to explicitly oppose exceptions for rape and incest.
Discussing the bans in an interview with CNN on May 17, McDaniel said, "Personally, I would have the exceptions. ... But we are a party that is a broad tent." If the new law had been in effect when she was raped, Blakely said, she would have done anything to end the pregnancy — possibly including suicide.
After Mace proposed adding the exceptions to the bill, another GOP colleague protested, while referring to rape in a way that appeared to diminish its seriousness as a violent crime.
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