Male Politician Wants Women to Ask Permission Before Getting an Abortion

A Missouri Republican has spearheaded a bill that would require a woman who wants an abortion to first obtain written permission from her male sexual partner — unless she was the victim of “legitimate rape.”State Representative Rick Brattin, who filed the bill on December 3, defined “legitimate rape” as rape that has been reported to the police and subsequently proven. Brattin told Mother Jones magaazine, “You couldn’t just go and say ‘Oh yeah, I was raped,’ and get an abortion. It has to be a legitimate rape.”This provision, combined with the fact that 60% of sexual assaults go unreported to police, means Missouri women would be prevented from seeking healthcare — often in a distressing situation — until they get the “OK” from a man.Brattin claims “legitimate rape,” a phrase which was first popularized by Republican Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri back in 2012, is similar to robbery. He told Mother Jones, “I’m just saying if there was a legitimate rape, you’re going to make a police report, just as if you were robbed.” In other words, if there was no police report, it must not have really happened.When asked if the bill would extend to women who come from abusive homes, he said, “What does that have to do with a child’s life? Just because it was an abusive relationship, does that mean the child should die?” (Brattin himself has four children and a fifth on the way.)There is a small silver lining: Missouri legislators are used to outlandish sexual health bills. Democratic legislators in 2012 introduced a similarly stringent bill aimed at men stating that vasectomies could only be performed “to avert the death of a man or avert serious risk of…physical impairment.” It’s nice to see our lawmakers on both sides of the aisle taking reproductive health so seriously.