- Clinics in Texas have been grappling with the need to help rape victims.
- “The number has been high,” an employee at the rape crisis clinic told The Associated Press.
- It comes as governor. Greg Abbott promises to “eliminate all rapists” thanks to the state’s strict abortion laws.
The Texas clinic said that despite the governor. Greg Abbott pledged that the state’s strict abortion laws will “eliminate all rapists,” according to the Associated Press.
Last year, Abbott pledged to root out rapists after signing the state’s abortion bill, which bars people from having surgery after an ultrasound detects a fetal “heartbeat,” people familiar with the matter previously reported. The law makes no exceptions for rape or incest — a restriction that abortion advocates and some in the Republican Party have denounced.
“Let’s be clear: Rape is a crime,” Abbott said at the time. “Texas will work tirelessly to make sure we eliminate all rapists on the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”
He continued: “So the No. 1 goal in Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no one is a victim of it.”
However, employees at the Texas clinic said the growing number of rape victims had become overwhelmed, and a facility near Texas A&M University had to deal with waiting lists, according to the Associated Press.
“The number has been high,” Lindsey LeBlanc, executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Center, told the outlet. “We’re trying to keep up with demand.”
As the Texas Tribune reported last month, the state’s abortion trigger law went into effect after SCOTUS overturned Roe. v Wade, which also included a provision that anyone who performed the procedure could face life in prison.
There have been more than 14,000 rape-related crimes since last year, according to the Associated Press, citing the State Department of Public Safety. Democrats recently attacked Abbott’s remarks suggesting rape victims should take a Plan B to avoid pregnancy.
“With immediate access to health care, they can get a Plan B pill that can prevent pregnancy,” Abbott said. “Regarding reporting to law enforcement, this will ensure that the rapist will be apprehended and prosecuted.”