KS rep compares rape pregnancy to flat tire

[lakhota]

Kansas Lawmaker Says Women Should Plan Ahead For Rape: ‘I Have A Spare Tire’

The anti-choice tidal wave stemming from the 2010 elections has produced nearly 1,000 anti-choice bills this year alone. When Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) took office last year, he called on the state legislature to create “a culture of life” and, in the last 15 minutes of their annual session, they delivered. The Republican majority passed a law to ban insurance companies from offering abortion coverage in their general health plans, except when a woman’s life is at risk.

However, one pro-choice Republican, state Rep. Barbara Bollier, feared that Republicans were cutting off “a way for women to cover the cost of terminating pregnancies” — particularly when they’re unintended. During the House debate, she “questioned whether women would buy abortion-only policies long before they have crisis or unwanted pregnancies or are rape victims.” But state Rep. Pete DeGraaf (R) was ready with a shocking retort. DeGraaf said women should plan ahead for situations such as rape because, after all, “I have a spare tire on my car“:

During the House’s debate, Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill, told [Bollier]: “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”

Bollier asked him, “And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with a pregnancy?”

DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, “I have spare tire on my car.”

“I also have life insurance,” he added. “I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for.”

DeGraaf’s belief that women should plan and prepare for their own rape is more than groan-worthy, it’s woefully out-of-touch. As Jezebel’s Margaret Hartmann notes, DeGraaf is basically telling sexual assault victims that “the state isn’t AAA” so a Kansas woman is responsible for the consequences of her attacker. And by comparing it to life insurance, DeGraaf goes further to insinuate that rape is as inevitable as death.

Unfortunately, this Boy Scout dismissal of rape and incest victims is as galling as it is common among the GOP. More and more Republican lawmakers are adopting the Sharron Angle “make lemonade” attitude towards pregnancies resulting from rape. This year, one Indiana lawmaker even suggested that women would fake their own rapes to secure an abortion procedure.

“There’s clearly a message here that women are dispensable,” said Kansas state Rep. Annie Kuether (D).”I’m sick and tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.”

thinkprogress.org/2011/05/24/abortion-rape-spare-tire/

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I have a sudden urge to smack Mr. DeGraaf.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

This is a problem attorneys and insurance agents have to deal with all day long: nobody wants to think the unthinkable. Nobody wants to discuss it, and there's something unsettling about planning for somethign like this-- but to make it out as something outrageous is purely political gamesmanship. We watch ads all day long that encourage us to plan for death; we can plan for what would happen if we are the victim of a crime-- and as I've pointed out numerous times-- we can plan so we are hopefully not victims to start with.

[Gardening Grandma]

So what is it with Republican politicians and rape?

[marshabar1]

There's already a thread on this subject.

Obviously the man's an idiot.

[Deleted]

Well let's see: EVERYONE knows that right wing Republican's are against abortion (& consider it murder) so they don't want it in any bill that the government will pay for it. NO BIG SURPRISE THERE (I don't believe that the government should be in the business of paying for abortions either but not for the same reason).

During the House’s debate, Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill, told [Bollier]: “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”
Bollier asked him, “And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with a pregnancy?”
DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, “I have spare tire on my car.”

In other words you plan for the unexpected. Like when you buy insurance, do you buy the cheap policy that doesn't treat cancer or do you buy the better policy that covers it (after all your not PLANNING to get cancer are your?). The same with a lot of things in life including a spare tire. Do you not plan of ever getting a flat? Even if you don't, you still get a spare tire "just in case". Maybe not the greatest way of stating it but he got his point across pretty well. Plan ahead. The government won't pay for an aborting so get it covered in your insurance policy.

Typical Lakhota post. He was trolling & got a couple of bites. Just sad that he can't find a real topic to post.

[Deleted]

This message has been deleted.

[ugonow]

Last Friday, Kansas legislators approved a ban on insurance companies offering abortion coverage as part of their general health plans. The one exception: when a woman's life is at risk.

DeGraaf, who is in his first term and who is an associate pastor, also called for banning coverage for abortions of rape pregnancies. (Women could get around this if they purchased separate, "abortion-only policies.")


During the House discussion there was predictably some disagreement over whether excluding rape pregnancies from coverage was perhaps the sort of callous treatment a recently violated woman shouldn't have to deal with.
Are republicans now in favor of the government telling insurance companies what or what not to cover?

[chiver78]

May 24, 2011 19:24:39 GMT -5 @oldtex said:

I posted this on Lakhota's post & I'll post it here. The only difference is that chiver78 started this one.

....

Typical Lakhota post. He was trolling & got a couple of bites. Just sad that he can't find a real topic to post.

disclaimer: the content in the middle didn't apply to what I have to say to you here.

do you think I'm trolling too? I'm posting an article that absolutely pissed me off. I was under the impression that this was a board that welcomed discussion, and this is topic about which I have very strong opinions. I'll be sure to remember your comment the next time YOU post an article about something you feel strongly about, where I happen to hold an opposing opinion.

[shelby]

He doesn't think it is a real topic because he does not care about the subject or that such things happen you know to those other people. Just another way to demonize the victim and marginilze woman I find it again BARF. But people will continue to be sociopaths till time ends.

[Deleted]

Since the gov't has decided to get in the insurance business through Obamacare, yes, gov't is now in the business of telling insurance companies what to do. We opposed that, by the way.

[mmhmm]

There is no comparison between planning against the advent of cancer, and planning to get raped and end up pregnant. None. Cancer is more common than pregnancy due to rape, for one thing. Many people have family history that includes cancer. Those folks, especially, need to be prepared for the eventuality of developing the disease and incurring the subsequent horrendous medical bills. Most rapes do not result in pregnancy. There are not as many people raped as there are who get cancer. Face it. The groans from the floor of the House were well deserved. That was a lousy analogy, and insensitive in the extreme. A really, really dumb comment!

[Deleted]

do you think I'm trolling too? I'm posting an article that absolutely pissed me off. I was under the impression that this was a board that welcomed discussion, and this is topic about which I have very strong opinions. I'll be sure to remember your comment the next time YOU post an article about something you feel strongly about, where I happen to hold an opposing opinion.

Chiver the man simply used that statement to convey the though that you need to be prepared. Nothing more or less. To take it out of context & get all upset about it is FOOLISH. What he meant was obvious, just as I covered in my original answer (reread it & you will see that).

You have strong feelings about it. Ok, fine. Does that mean that someone shouldn't pay for comprehensive medical insurance, because thats what his answer was about. If you have a problem with anything it should be that most right wing Republican's don't agree with abortion, nothing else.

Oh & yes I think Lakhota trolls. Check out what he posts as the topic of the thread. Compare it to yours. (I saw his first btw). Did the guy actually compare rape to a spare tire or did he compare being prepared to a spare tire. If you really think that he compared rape to a spare tire then explain it to me because it makes no sense.

[zipity]

By this rep's logic no healthcare policy should ever cover any injury sustained as a result of a violent crime. If you get shot during a bank robbery, better have "shot during a bank robbery" insurance and don't try using your "shot during a terrorist event" policy to cover the bank robbery shooting. Where does the GOP keep finding politicians like this?

[Deleted]

DeGraaf’s belief that women should plan and prepare for their own rape is more than groan-worthy, it’s woefully out-of-touch. As Jezebel’s Margaret Hartmann notes, DeGraaf is basically telling sexual assault victims that “the state isn’t AAA” so a Kansas woman is responsible for the consequences of her attacker. And by comparing it to life insurance, DeGraaf goes further to insinuate that rape is as inevitable as death.

I hate to say it but I think the article is very slanted. The above is not what he said. It is the writers interpretation & they put it in there like that's exactly what he said. The man is just voicing the normal stance that Republicans have about abortion. Now I don't agree with that stance (I think the women should have complete control of her body & what she says go's) but that's beside the point. I do see (& again don't agree with) how Republicans can feel that abortion is murder. If I looked at it that way then I wouldn't want my government to pay for it either.

I think the government should get out of health care totally. What they should do is pass laws that will correct the causes of expensive health care coverage.