Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Gives Gov. Greg Abbott A Biology Lesson After ‘Disgusting' Rape Claim
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) condemned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s defense of his state’s extreme abortion ban this week as “disgusting.”
Abbott on Tuesday dismissed concerns that the new law, which prohibits abortions after six weeks and went into effect last week, would force survivors of rape or incest to carry their pregnancies to term. The Republican governor said they had at least six weeks to get an abortion and claimed he would “eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas.”
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday night, Ocasio-Cortez suggested Abbott was “not familiar with a female or menstruating person’s body” because if he were, “he would know that you don’t have six weeks.”
“I’m sorry we have to break down Biology 101 on national television, but in case no one has informed him before in his life, six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period,” she continued. “And two weeks late on your period for any person, any person with a menstrual cycle, can happen if you’re stressed, if your diet changes, or for really no reason at all. So you don’t have six weeks.”
Ocasio-Cortez also criticized the way Abbott has talked about “going after rapists” and “getting rapists off the streets,” pointing out that the majority of perpetrators of sexual assault are known to their victims.
“These aren’t just predators that are walking around the streets at night,” she said. “They are people’s uncles. They are teachers. They are family friends. And when something like that happens, it takes a very long time, first of all, for any victim to come forward.”
“It’s awful, and he speaks from such a place of deep ignorance,” Ocasio-Cortez concluded of Abbott. “And it’s not just ignorance. It’s ignorance that’s hurting people across this country.”
Watch the interview here:
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
