COLUMBUS, Ohio — For more than two decades, Nancy Mace did not speak publicly about her rape. When some of her colleagues in the House dismissed her amendment — some women invent rapes to justify seeking an abortion, they claimed — she could not restrain herself. Mace is against abortion in most cases and supported the fetal heartbeat bill as long as it contained the exception for rape and incest. In Ohio, a fetal heartbeat bill passed even after three lawmakers spoke out on the floor about their rapes — among them State Rep. Lisa Sobecki, who argued for a rape exemption by recounting her own assault and subsequent abortion. Ohio state Rep. Erica Crawley, a Democrat representing Columbus, said she didn’t intend to share the story of her sexual assault when floor debate on the heartbeat bill began.

Source: National Post May 18, 2019 12:10 UTC