Abbott says rape victims in Texas can prevent pregnancy by taking Plan B

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said rape victims in the state can prevent pregnancies by using emergency contraception pills such as Plan B, The Dallas Morning News reported Friday.

In Texas, abortions are banned and do not include exceptions for rape or incest.

Late last month, a so-called “trigger law” went into effect following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier this year. The trigger law makes it a felony to perform an abortion in the state with narrow exceptions when the pregnant person’s life is at risk.

“We want to support those victims, but also those victims can access health care immediately, as well as to report it,” Abbott told The Dallas Morning News and KXAS-TV’s “Lone Star Politics” in a segment obtained by the Morning News that will air on Sunday.

“By accessing health care immediately, they can get the Plan B pill that can prevent a pregnancy from occurring in the first place,” he added.

Plan B is an oral contraceptive that is taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or a “contraceptive accident” to prevent pregnancy, according to the product’s website. The pill prevents an egg from being released from the ovary to prohibit fertilization.

The Republican governor also told “Lone Star Politics” that reporting a rape to law enforcement “will ensure that the rapist will be arrested and prosecuted.”

However, very few rape cases result in an arrest. While there were 13,327 reported rapes in Texas in 2020, there were only 1,828 arrests for rape, according to the state’s department of public safety.

Abbott’s Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke responded to the governor’s statement on Twitter on Friday night, saying “We are going to end Greg Abbott’s career on November 8 and the women of Texas are going to lead the way.”

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