Here we go again: Jason Conger talks about rape & abortion.

Marc Abrams

We may have our own Richard Mourdock in Oregon.

Jason Conger, the presumptive front runner for the GOP nod to take on Jeff Merkley, came on “Kremer and Abrams” this Sunday. I asked him why he had, in 2011, sponsored HB 3512, a “fetal pain” abortion limitation with no exception for rape or incest victims. His response ― a non-response really ― was “with regard to rape, we can’t know what it means to the woman.” He repeated this three times.

Now I know he couldn’t mean that only women are qualified to pass judgment or legislation on this sensitive issue, because, well, he sponsored legislation on the issue. What he appeared to be saying was that we can’t allow rape exceptions because some women might not consider a specific act a “rape.” If so, isn’t that precisely why to have such an exception, so the woman herself can decide whether to terminate a pregnancy? What he also appeared to be saying is that sometimes a rape isn’t a rape. Or it’s sometimes a “tolerable” rape.

I invite Rep. Conger to clarify his remarks. In the meantime, anyone with the opportunity should press him to explain why a Republican who gives lip service to individual rights and stopping government control apparently only means that when it comes to rich developers, corporations, and men, but not women.

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