For years, the anti-abortion movement has generally tolerated exceptions in cases of rape or incest, or when the health or life of the woman was at risk from pregnancy. It was seemingly neutral territory in the debate, a recognition of the complexity of real-life circumstances.
But now that the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to reverse Roe v. Wade, those exceptions are evaporating. Missouri, like other red states, has a law ready to go into effect as soon as Roe falls that would outlaw abortion from conception, without exceptions for rape or incest — thus promising to revictimize women already traumatized by one of the worst violations imaginable.
And greater danger lurks on the horizon. As The Washington Post reports in an extensive examination of the issue, those health-and-life exceptions around the country are being softened, even as the activists who have Republican lawmakers’ ears increasingly call for ending exceptions altogether. As the primaries and midterms approach, even moderately anti-abortion voters should insist that Republican candidates specify just how far they’re willing to go in restricting those rights — and then consider whether those answers are reasonable.
