The state of Texas is facing national outcry after the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation went into effect. Senate Bill 8, also misleadingly known as the "heartbeat bill," forbids abortions after six weeks—long before the fetal viability period, making it a violation of Roe v. Wade.
Despite this violation, the conservative Supreme Court refused to intervene.
What's more, the bill encourages Texans to turn their neighbors in, allowing a bounty of up to $10 thousand for reporting anyone who obtains an illegal abortion, or even facilitates one.
The bill makes no exceptions for rape or incest. Earlier this month, the state's Republican Governor—Greg Abbott—dismissed concerns for the absence of these protections by absurdly claiming Texas would eliminate rape.
Chris Wallace, an anchor for the conservative Fox News network, challenged Abbott on the lack of protections for rape and incest victims in a tense interview.
Watch below.
CHRIS WALLACE: Is it reasonable to say to a rape victim who might not know they're pregnant until 6 weeks, 'don't worry about it, because we're going to eliminate rape'?
GREG ABBOTT: The goal is to protect the lives of every child with a heartbeat pic.twitter.com/o7rJ5G6JZF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 26, 2021
Wallace asked:
"Is it reasonable to say to somebody who is the victim of rape, and might not understand that they are pregnant until six weeks, 'Well, don't worry about it, because we're going to eliminate rape as a problem in the state of Texas?'"
The governor responded that sexual assault victims should be met with compassion and support, and that he'd sought harsher penalties for repeat rapists.
Wallace further pressed him:
"There were more than 15,000 rapes in 2019 when you were governor. ... a Republican state representative says that he's gonna offer a new measure that would restore the exception to the Texas abortion law for victims of rape and incest. If that came to your desk, would you sign it or not?"
Abbot said:
"The goal is to protect the lives of every child with a heartbeat ... This goal is consistent with what the United States Supreme Court has written, and that is states have the ability to make sure that we protect the health and safety of both the mother and the child."
When Wallace further asked if Abbott would sign an exception for rape and incest victims into law, he further deflected, dismissing it as a "hypothetical."
The interview didn't do much to help Abbott make his case.
These people are insane zealotshttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1632664668
Greg Abbot makes children with heartbeats go to school without mask or vaccination mandates in a state without gun carry restrictions.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— A.R. Moxon (@A.R. Moxon) 1632664028
New Texas state motto: Texas, under His eye.pic.twitter.com/ircVuGuxeJ— Crystal\u2019sMaskedAndVaxxed~They/Them/Y\u2019all (@Crystal\u2019sMaskedAndVaxxed~They/Them/Y\u2019all) 1632669437
OK...#GovAbbott...assign all of these bits of DNA\na social security number... https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/9O5BuJpdgN— Sweetie (@Sweetie) 1632700295
Pay attention here: When Abbott says "The goal is to protect the lives of every child with a heartbeat," he's saying there can be no exception for rape cases. The same will be true if they succeed in banning abortion altogether.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— Jay Bookman (@Jay Bookman) 1632743068
Others called out his hypocrisy.
Yet, they just passed permit-less carry in Texas and aren\u2019t requiring masks in schools. Tell me again how this is \u201cprotecting every child with a heartbeat\u201d?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— Jen #WearAMask Mulvaney (@Jen #WearAMask Mulvaney) 1632693503
Abbott is an incompetent moron.\n\nThe children of Texas who are ALIVE with a heartbeat are not protected by him or their whackjob right wing parents. They're either getting shot due to lax gun laws, catching Covid, losing parents to Covid or in poverty.\n#DemVoice1\n#BetoForGovernorhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— \u20a5\u0246\u0142\u0110\u20b3\u20b4_\u0e3f\u2c64\u0246\u20a6\u0110\u20b3 \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@\u20a5\u0246\u0142\u0110\u20b3\u20b4_\u0e3f\u2c64\u0246\u20a6\u0110\u20b3 \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f) 1632672344
Reminder that Texas still has thousands of untested rape kits and Abbott\u2019s administration isn\u2019t even trying to keep track of how many there are anymore. https://www.nycsouthpaw.com/p/texas-still-has-thousands-of-untested\u00a0\u2026https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— southpaw (@southpaw) 1632688480
That 11-year old who froze to death because the TX power grid failed was a child with a heartbeat. \n\nGreg Abbott is a hypocrite and a coward. Vote him out, Texas, if you're still allowed to vote.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1442122462846717958\u00a0\u2026— Are we there yet? (@Are we there yet?) 1632690727
Abortion providers in neighboring states have seen a surge in Texas patients seeking care.
@cynthiaerivo/Instagram
