On the heels of a brand new Florida regulation banning abortions after 15 weeks with out exceptions for rape, state Sen. Ileana Garcia mentioned final week that denying abortions to human-trafficking victims may also help them escape captors who received’t wish to promote them for intercourse whereas they’re pregnant.
Florida
Florida lawmaker says abortion bans help sex-trafficking victims escape
Garcia made the feedback final week at a public assembly in Miami Seaside after being requested why she didn’t help an exception to Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban for victims of rape, incest or human trafficking.
“When the lady or the lady will get pregnant, they usually can’t make her get an abortion, or she doesn’t wish to get an abortion, or they’ll’t get her to a spot to get an abortion, they don’t use her anymore,” Garcia instructed the gang. “So, they launch her from the human trafficking ring. That’s the reason we went to that time.”
Neither Garcia nor a spokeswoman instantly replied to messages from The Washington Submit late Monday.
The brand new regulation signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) final month takes impact in July. It permits for abortions after 15 weeks for “deadly fetal anomalies” and in instances wherein the lifetime of the mom can be in peril if the process was not carried out. There is no such thing as a exception for victims of incest, rape or human trafficking.
The earlier regulation allowed abortions so far as 24 weeks right into a being pregnant.
Republican politicians throughout the nation have made related arguments towards abortion in current months. In January, Garrett Soldano, a Michigan gubernatorial candidate, instructed a podcast host that rape victims shouldn’t have abortions as a result of the “child inside them will be the subsequent president.”
One other lawmaker mentioned final month {that a} child born after a rape might be an “alternative” for the sufferer. Ohio state Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) was testifying in favor of a invoice she had sponsored that may ban most abortions in her state.
“It’s a disgrace that it occurs, however there’s a chance for that girl, irrespective of how younger or outdated she is, to make a dedication about what she’s going to do to assist that life be a productive human being,” Schmidt mentioned.
Garcia was elected to the Florida Senate in 2020. She beforehand served because the Division of Homeland Safety’s deputy press secretary throughout the Trump administration. In response to her bio, she was the primary Hispanic girl to serve within the place.
“I had the chance to exit to the border, and I’ve labored on quite a lot of human trafficking stuff,” Garcia instructed attendees ultimately week’s occasion.
Her feedback sparked criticism from Florida state Rep. Michael Grieco, a Democrat working to unseat Garcia in November.
“Claiming that somebody must be compelled to hold a baby to time period as a result of they might be much less marketable as a ‘commodity’ for his or her pimp is insane,” he instructed CBS Miami. “It’s one of the ridiculous issues, as a former prosecutor and only a human being [and as] any person who dealt with a lot of these instances for years.”
Caroline Kitchener contributed to this report.