Jun 12
During a House Judiciary hearing on his abortion bill Wednesday, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said that he opposes an exemption for rape victims because “the incidence of rape resulting in pregancy are very low.”
The Arizona Republican’s comments echo those made last year by former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who notoriously claimed that women cannot become pregnant from “legitimate rape.”
Like Akin’s, Franks’s claim is not supported by research. Medical experts agree that rape does not lower the incidence of pregnancy, and one study by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that more than 30,000 pregnancies result from rape in the United States each year.
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