Mark Karlin: Despite Greg Abbott's Promise to "Crack Down" on Rapes, Texas Leads the Nation in Them
November 15, 2021
MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH
Statista reports that in 2020, Texas was the leading state in forcible cases in America.
Total number of forcible rape cases reported in the United States in 2020, by state. (Statista)
This is evidence of the horrifying circumstances that Texas Governor Greg Abbott is leaving women who have been sexually assaulted by arguing that it is okay to forbid abortions for rape and incest (not infrequently one and the same) because Abbott is going to “crackdown” on rape, a tragically and cruelly opportunistic promise.
As an Austin American-Statesman stated when the draconian abortion virtual ban was passed and signed into law in September:
After signing a new voting bill into law on Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott was asked if victims of rape or incest would be legally required to carry a pregnancy to term.
After insisting they wouldn't because the law "provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion," despite the fact that most women discover they are pregnant four to five weeks in, the governor doubled down by noting that rape is a crime in the state.
"Rape is a crime and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets," Abbott said.
It’s an inexcusable self-politically serving swagger that has no basis in reality.
In fact, according to NBC News, Texas is below the national average in arrests for reported rapes with only a 13.4% “clearance” rate.
Add this to the absurd notion that one can pre-emptively arrest rapes and the mercilessness of Abott’s positioning himself with the hard-right wing becomes a dereliction of duty to women in dire need.
It gets worse. More than 90% of rapes are estimated to be unreported around the nation, including Texas.
The American-Statesman article notes that roughly,
25 out of 1,000 rapes result in incarceration. That's 2.5% of all rapes nationally.
In Texas, the IDVSA study reported a lower rate of victims reporting sexual violence to law enforcement, finding 9.2% of victims reporting, meaning more than 90% of assaults are unreported.
Thus far, most of the media has not vilified Abbott for his crime against rape victims, and his clearly politically-crafted but fanciful promise to get rid of rapists. That’s like Donald Trump saying he is going to ensure that no one lies anymore.
Abbott’s betrayal is viscerally inhumane, ignoring both the complexity and amount of rape in US society and the assistance, including abortion for rape and incest, needed by victims.
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