Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas on June 8, 2021.
Eric Gay/AP
Clinics in Texas have been struggling with the demand for assisting rape victims.
“The numbers have stayed consistently high,” a rape crisis clinic employee told The AP.
It comes as Gov. Greg Abbott pledged to “eliminate all rapists” as a result of the state’s strict abortion law.
Clinics in Texas say the number of rape cases has remained “consistently” high, despite Gov. Greg Abbott’s assurance that the state’s strict abortion law would “eliminate all rapists,” according to The Associated Press.
Last year, Abbott pledged to eradicate rapists after signing the state’s abortion bill that bars people from getting the procedure after a fetal “heartbeat” can be detected on an ultrasound, Insider previously reported. The law has no exceptions for rape or incest — a restriction that abortion advocates and some in the GOP have condemned.
“Let’s make something very clear: Rape is a crime,” Abbott said at the time. “And Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”
He continued: “So goal No. 1 in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person, will be a victim of it.”
However, Texas clinic employees have expressed the growing number of rape victims has been overwhelming, with one facility near Texas A&M University having to deal with a waitlist, The Associated Press reported.
“The numbers have stayed consistently high,” Lindsey LeBlanc, executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Center, told the outlet. “We are struggling to keep up with demand.”
As The Texas Tribune reported last month the state’s abortion trigger law was set in motion after SCOTUS overturned Roe. v Wade, which also includes a provision that says that anyone performing the procedure could face up to life in prison.
According to the AP, citing the state Department of Public Safety, there have been over 14,000 rape-related crimes since last year. Democrats recently slammed Abbott for his comments that insinuated rape victims should take a Plan B to avoid getting pregnant.
“By accessing health care immediately, they can get the Plan B pill that can prevent a pregnancy from occurring in the first place,” Abbott said. “With regard to reporting it to law enforcement, that will ensure that the rapist will be arrested and prosecuted.”