GOP lawmaker says most rapes are ‘date rapes or consensual rapes’ while defending Missouri bill that bans abortion after 8 weeks
- Representative Barry Hovis, a former police officer who took office earlier this year, made the comments while discussing his experience handling rape cases
- He said that ‘most of the rapes’ he encountered in law enforcement didn’t involve ‘gentlemen jumping out of the bushes’ – but were cases of acquaintance rape
- His comments drew swift criticism from women and Democrats in the chamber
- Hovis later amended his statement, telling The Kansas City Star that he misspoke and agreeing repeatedly that ‘there is no such thing as consensual rape’
- The remarks drew comparisons to Todd Akin who infamously said that a woman’s body can ‘shut that whole (pregnancy) thing down’ in cases of ‘legitimate rape’
A Republican state lawmaker in Missouri said on Friday that most sexual assaults are either ‘date rapes or consensual rapes’ as he sought to defend a proposal that would ban abortions when a woman is eight weeks pregnant.
Representative Barry Hovis, a former police officer who took office earlier this year, made the comments while discussing his experience in that role handling rape cases, according to The Kansas City Star.
He said that ‘most of the rapes’ he encountered in law enforcement didn’t involve ‘gentlemen jumping out of the bushes.’
‘Most of them were date rapes or consensual rapes,’ Hovis said. ‘Which were all terrible, but I’d sit in court when juries would struggle with those situations, where it was a ‘he-said-she-said,’ which was unfortunate if it really happened.’
His comments drew swift criticism from women and Democrats in the chamber.
This file photo shows Missouri State Representative Barry Hovich in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in March 2019
‘There is no such thing – no such thing – as consensual rape,’ Representative Raychel Proudie said moments after his remarks.
Hovis, who represents the city of Jackson in the Southeastern region of the state, later amended his comments, telling The Kansas City Star that he misspoke and agreeing that ‘there is no such thing as consensual rape.’
The Republican-led House passed the abortion ban soon after Hovis’ original comments.
Former U.S. Representative Todd Akin, a Republican from Missouri is shown here in a 2012 file photo
‘Let’s say someone is sexually assaulted, they have eight weeks to make a decision,’ he said before the vote. ‘I’ve heard of the morning-after pill … it gives ample time in those eight weeks to make those exclusions, which I may not be comfortable with, but it does give people those exclusions.’
His remarks drew comparisons to former Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, a Republican and anti-abortion activist whose career in American politics ended shortly after he used the phrase ‘legitimate rape’ with a local news reporter.
‘If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,’ Akin said in 2012.
The bill will now go to Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican who has said he will sign the abortion ban.