An Idaho legislator sparked outrage last Thursday when he stated that pregnancy is unlikely to result from rape or incest due to the trauma involved. State Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, stated, “Now, I’m of the understanding that in many cases of rape it does not involve any pregnancy because of the trauma of the incident. That may be true with incest a little bit”
Nielsen’s comments were made during the hearing on HB 516 that would require that women who are seeking abortions be given a list of places where they can get free ultrasounds, and was directed toward Angela Dwyer of Stanton Healthcare, a crisis pregnancy center, as she was testifying. Dwyer was testifying in support of the bill, which also states that a woman will not be given an abortion unless she is told that heart tone monitoring and ultrasound imaging are available.
Although Nielsen stuck with his statement following the hearing, saying pregnancy “doesn’t happen as often as it does with consensual sex, because of the trauma involved,” he has now recanted, saying he was wrong in his belief. “I was in error, and I regret it,” he said.
When asked how he knew that his original statements were true he said it was just information he had known for years. He said that, as the father of five girls, he had explored the topic a lot, and had read it several times, adding “whether it’s totally accurate or not, I don’t know.”
The statements were reminiscent of those made by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) who said in 2012 that if a women experienced “legitimate rape” her body would reject a pregnancy.
Legislative director for Idaho’s Planned Parenthood, Hannah Brass Greer, said that statements like this point blame at rape victims who become pregnant, suggesting that they consented. She pointed out that the statement was obviously medically inaccurate.
Rep. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise said “what that kind of a statement does to somebody who’s been victimized violently – it’s ignorant, it’s insensitive.”
Nielsen maintained that it is abortion rights supporters that are ignoring scientific fact, because both scientific and religious teachings prove without a doubt that a fetus is a living individual. He says he supports the bill, because it would help women see and hear the fetus and make their decision of whether to proceed with abortion based on the ultrasound. He says he is not trying to change a woman’s mind about terminating the pregnancy.
Nielsen says that, since making the comments, he has gotten several hateful phone calls and emails from around the country from people telling him he is completely wrong.