WASHINGTON — Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said Wednesday that the incidence of pregnancy from rape is “very low,” months after a similar comment led Todd Akin to lose a Senate race in Missouri.
Franks made his statement during a House Judiciary Committee meeting Wednesday on the Arizona congressman’s bill that would ban abortions nationwide after the 20th week of gestation. The lawmaker’s comments were first reported by The Washington Post.
Franks, a social conservative first elected in 2002, objected to a Democratic amendment that would make exceptions in cases of rape and incest.
“The incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low,” Franks said, according to a transcript.
Franks tried to clarify later in the meeting. “But when you make that exception, there’s usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours. And in this case that’s impossible because this is in the sixth month of gestation. And that’s what completely negates and vitiates the purpose of such an amendment,” according to The Post.
Franks’ pregnancy comment evoked memories of a remark by then-Rep. Todd Akin, who said in a TV interview last summer that pregnancy can be prevented by a woman involved in a “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said there is “no veracity” to Akin’s claim.
June 17, 2013 6:16 AM
