The comment surprised the Democratic congressman questioning her. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines abortion as “medical intervention provided to individuals who need to terminate the medical condition of pregnancy.” “Wait, wouldn’t that be an abortion?” said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. Catherine Glenn Foster, head of the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life, told Swalwell she didn’t think it was. “If a 10-year-old with her parents made the decision not to have a baby that was the result of rape, if a 10-year-old became pregnant as a result of rape and it threatened her life, then that’s not an abortion,” Foster told the House Judiciary Committee. on Thursday. Catherine Glenn Foster, President and CEO of Americans United for Life speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, July 14, 2022, in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images Around the same time as Foster’s testimony, the National Right to Life Commission’s top lawyer took a decidedly different view. In a phone interview with Politico, James Bopp said the girl should have been forced to terminate the pregnancy under the model legislation he wrote last June as the NRLC’s general counsel. This legislation is used by states to enact restrictions on abortion. “She would have had the baby, and as many women have had babies as a result of rape, hopefully she would have understood the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child,” Bopp was quoted as saying. Bopp did not respond to requests for an interview. After spending decades united in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, the conservative movement faces tough questions about what it means to oppose abortion. Should there be exceptions for rape and incest? Does the age of the victim matter? What does it mean to protect “mother’s life”? How imminent must death be before a doctor can legally intervene? Other questions: Should states enact laws preventing women from traveling out of state for abortions? Should they ban IUDs and emergency contraceptives like Plan B? Conservatives praising the Supreme Court’s decision say those details should be decided by voters in the states. Abortion rights advocates say the rights to liberty and privacy should not be up to voters to decide, but are enshrined in the Constitution. “In case we’ve forgotten, this is what democracy looks like,” said Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., in defense of the Supreme Court’s decision. But no case has challenged the anti-abortion rights movement more than the rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl. After a 27-year-old man was arrested in her case, a detective testified in court this week that the girl became pregnant as a result of the rape and traveled to Indianapolis to have an abortion. Ohio has banned abortion after heart activity is detected, which is about six weeks into pregnancy. The state does not provide for exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Indiana’s Republican attorney general said he planned to investigate the doctor who helped the girl get an abortion. An attorney representing Dr. Caitlin Bernard said she followed reporting procedures, and Indiana University Health said an investigation found she complied with privacy laws. Several Republican politicians, including Rep. Jim Jordan, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, had questioned whether the case had been fabricated for political reasons. Jordan did not address the case in his questioning at Thursday’s hearing, but spoke of violent attacks on anti-abortion pregnancy centers. Jennifer Holland, a history professor at the University of Oklahoma, said she thinks conservatives have a hard time talking about the rape of such a young victim because it’s never been done before. “For 50 years, the focus has been as much as possible on the fetus,” he said. “They chose never to count on difficult cases. Now that they have the power of the state, this is very different.” Daniel Williams, a University of West Georgia history professor who studies politics and religion, said conservative support for rape and incest exemptions has changed over time. In this case, the leaders of the anti-abortion rights movement likely weren’t prepared for such a case to confront them so soon after Roe v. Wade was overturned, he said. “I doubt, however, that this will be a substantial setback for the movement,” Williams said. but even that is uncertain. But we’re in uncharted territory here, so it’s hard to make predictions about future developments.” Sarah Warbelow, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, said it was misinformation to suggest that an abortion would not be an abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim. “Abortion is a medical procedure. It’s a medical procedure that people undergo for a wide range of circumstances, including being sexually assaulted, raped in the case of the 10-year-old,” he said. Dr. ABC News Medical Unit member Rachel Boren contributed to this report.
