*TRIGGER WARNING* the following post contains graphic information about rape and sexual assault, and may trigger a response in some survivors.

to express my anger, frustration, and great sadness that i have in learning of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act would add fuel to the fire that is currently ablaze with our new congress. i’m not sure that i’m ready to go there yet… so i’m going to go about this post in a different way, and i ask that you bear with me and respect the topic at hand.

i’ve sat with more victims of rape and sexual assault than i can count. i’ve sat with them in emergency rooms, and i’ve sat with them in SARC (sexual assault response center) units. when i was a victim advocate in the state of florida, my job was to provide support, information, and options to the victims i met.

each victim (woman or man) i responded to had an immediate need and an immediate goal.

for one woman, it was to have a rape kit done in order to collect more evidence to continue building a case against her husband who had been raping her for years.

for another woman, it was to sleep on a cot in the locked SARC unit, knowing her stalker and assailant could not get to her for a few hours while she rested.

for one man, it was to have the cocktail of drugs you are given after being raped in the hopes of killing disease, bacteria, STDs, and any possible infection.

for me, my immediate need and goal after being raped 10 years ago, was to obtain the morning after pill and learn what gamma hydroxybutyric acid was.

for another woman, it was to talk. to tell me about her boyfriend, who after having his way with her, bound her hands and feet and let his 2 roommates rape her.

and for another woman, it was to learn what options she had and what her rights were from someone other than a cop… because she had been raped by a cop.

some victims i have come across have been beaten and bloodied, in need of stitches, x-rays, or a cast to stabilize a broken bone. other victims i have come across have been half naked, wrapped in a blanket, face smeared with makeup. and still other victims i have come across look like you and me… and have spoken to me while fully clothed, without visible bruises.

according to this new bill (full text of the bill can be found by clicking the link provided at the beginning of this post)

‘The limitations established in sections 301, 302, 303, and 304 shall not apply to an abortion–

‘(1) if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest; or

‘(2) in the case where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.

my question to the co-sponsors of this bill is simply this… why take more away from a person who has already had everything taken from them at the hands of an assailant?

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you can sign the petition to oppose this legislation that is trying to redefine rape, by visiting MoveOn.org, keeping in mind that rape is rape.