A Republican Idaho lawmaker's suggestion on the Senate floor that a doctor should ask a woman who says she was raped if the pregnancy could have been "caused by normal relations in a marriage" brought a rebuke from another legislator who said it's insensitive and suggests women may lie to get an abortion.
Sen. Chuck Winder of Boise, the Senate assistant majority leader, was speaking during closing testimony on a bill to require a woman to get an ultrasound before an abortion, when he addressed foes of the legislation who said it provided no exemptions for medical emergencies – or in cases of rape or incest.
"Rape and incest was used as a reason to oppose this. I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician, with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by a rape," Winder said during his testimony Monday, before the bill passed the Senate 23-12. "I assume that's part of the counseling that goes on."
