The governor also claimed rape victims can still get abortions because the ban takes effect around six weeks, but that’s before most people know they’re pregnant.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defended the state’s controversial near-total ban on abortion and its lack of exceptions for victims of rape and incest Tuesday, misleadingly stating that rape victims can still get abortions under the law and claiming that the government will “eliminate all rapists” in the state. 310 out of 1,000. That’s the approximate number of sexual assaults that are reported to police, according to statistics from RAINN based on U.S. Department of Justice data. According to the FBI, there were 24,986 rape-related arrests in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, and the Washington Post calculated in 2018 that less than 1% of all rapes and attempted rapes result in felony convictions.
