Michigan U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers has some strange family values. He doesn't think incest involving minors is rape.
That's the way he voted on HR3, the bill that redefines rape to make it harder for poor women to get an abortion.
House Republicans tried to disguise what they were doing, but their intent is clear. The bill initially contained language redefining rape as only "forcible rape." That would mean that poor women who were victims of statutory rape or incest could not obtain Medicaid funds for an abortion. How about a victim of a rapist who used a "date rape" drug? Sorry, that wasn't "forcible rape." You get to carry your rapist's baby if you are too poor to pay for an abortion.
But the public reaction against that medieval approach to women's rights was so harsh that they took that language out of the bill. And then they reinserted it in a sneaky way -- by attaching the committee report containing the same language in hopes that courts who interpret the law will take that as demonstrating what it was Congress wanted to the bill to do.
The measure also would eliminate most private insurance coverage for abortion by taking away the tax deduction for insurance premiums paid by employers. Women who use private insurance to pay for an abortion would face tax penalties. And the IRS would be expected to conduct abortion audits to determine if a woman used her private insurance to pay for an abortion that wasn't caused by rape or incest.
That's how extreme Mike Rogers is when it comes to punishing women.
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