A Missouri Republican has introduced a bill that would require women seeking abortion care to first get written, notarized permission from the father before they are legally allowed to have the procedure. Exceptions, according to the bill’s sponsor, will only be made for life endangerment and victims who become pregnant from “legitimate rape.”
As Molly Redden at Mother Jones reported Wednesday, the bill was actually filed earlier this month and is slated for next year’s legislative session. The measure, introduced by state Rep. Rick Brattin reads, “No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion.”
Of the exception for “legitimate rape,” Brattin explained to Redden that he apparently doesn’t mean it the way that his fellow Missourian Todd Akin meant it when the words effectively ended his political career. In what seems to be an attempt to preempt and criticism and, you know, let the public know that he means legitimate legitimate rape, Brattin told Redden, “Just like any rape, you have to report it, and you have to prove it,” he said. “So you couldn’t just go and say, ‘Oh yeah, I was raped,’ and get an abortion. It has to be a legitimate rape.
