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In my My Point Of View column on Oct. 5, 2022, I wrote, “Democrats want women to be able to make their own choices about family planning and their own medical decisions about serious pregnancy complications with the help of doctors who aren’t worried about going to prison for it.

“Republicans are in favor of abortion bans that make it easier for rapists to choose the mothers of their children. Please read that sentence again.

“These bans also force girls and women to suffer grave medical complications before they can receive necessary abortion care.”

Brad Kramer referred to my column when he wrote in his My Point of View column on March 1, 2023, “A previous Democrat[ic] MPV asserted that Republicans oppose abortion so rapists can choose who has their babies. That is an intellectually lazy and sick accusation!”

Notice the subtle distinction between what I wrote and how Kramer paraphrased it. I pointed out some harsh consequences of an abortion ban, and Kramer altered the meaning of my words by using the word “so.” Kramer shifted the focus away from rape victims being forced to give birth to their rapists’ babies, and instead characterized Republicans as victims of “an intellectually lazy and sick accusation” — one that he himself made up.

My original point about abortion bans is not abstract. A consequence of the Dobbs decision is that a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio had to travel to Indiana to receive an abortion last summer because Ohio’s abortion ban did not protect her from being forced to carry her rapist’s baby.

Twelve states currently have near total abortion bans in effect that could potentially force women and girls who were impregnated against their will to also carry to term against their will.

Let’s be clear: Girls and women are the ones being harmed, not Republicans who have stripped away a fundamental part of female bodily autonomy.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson
Albert Lea