What Is Love?

The newly-elected Republican majority in the House of Representatives unveiled the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act, introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ). Per Mother Jones, they've dubbed the bill a "top priority" in their legislative agenda.

The bill rewrites the definition of rape; if it became law, only women who were "forcibly" raped would qualify for federally-funded abortions. What does "forcibly" mean, you ask? Well, it's not quite clear. It's not clearly defined in federal criminal code, and the bill itself doesn't offer any clarification, either. That being said, under the proposed legislation, "rapes in which the woman was drugged or given excessive amounts of alcohol, rapes of women with limited mental capacity, and many date rapes" would not count as "forcible" rape.

There is also an "incest exception." That is, women under 18 would qualify for federally funded abortions.

According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN):

• 1 out of 6 American women have been or will be raped (attempted or completed) in her lifetime
• 17.7 million women have ben victims of attempted or completed rape
• 1 out of 33 men are victims of completed or attempted rape.
• 15 percent of sexual assault victims are under the age of 12
• In 2001, only 11 percent of the rapes involved the use of a weapon.

But perhaps the most startling (although, if your taxpayer-funded public school has been doing a good job with sex and health education classes, this shouldn't be new information) bit is that an overwhelming number (93 percent) of rape victims know their attacker (either family members or acquaintances).

RAINN estimates that in 2004-2005, out of the 64,080 women who were raped, 3,204 became pregnant. Look at that number. Over three thousand women unwillingly became pregnant because of rape.

Forget for a minute that Republicans were elected in 2010 on the promise of jobs, a field in which they have yet to offer any credible solutions. In a free society, it must be be responsibility of citizens to watch out for one another. In a free society, one of government's roles has to be ensuring the freedom and security of its citizens. This bill takes away that fundamental right from many of this country's citizens. It nullifies too many circumstances from qualifying as rape - circumstances which are completely out of the hands of the victim.

None of those 3,204 women asked to be impregnated by her attacker. Taking away the right to make such an important choice is not only irresponsible, but it cannot be the way a free society conducts itself. If this is the GOP's way of getting back at Roe v. Wade, then they've picked a horribly childish and misguided way of doing it. Punishing women for something they didn't do is wrong, and Rep. Chris Smith ought to be ashamed of himself.

Here's a link to Thomas, giving you more information on the bill itself. Also, check out if your representative is co-sponsor of the bill.