Outrage followed after Kansas state Rep. Pete DeGraaf compared being raped to getting a flat tire. During a House discussion of a bill that will ban insurance companies from covering abortion insurance under general healthcare plans, DeGraaf said women needed to “plan ahead” for being raped and possibly impregnated against their will. From the Associated Press:
And Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican who supports abortion rights, questioned whether women would buy abortion-only policies long before they have crisis or unwanted pregnancies or are rape victims.
During the House’s debate, Rep. Pete DeGraaf, a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill, told her: “We do need to plan ahead, don’t we, in life?”
Bollier asked him, “And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with a pregnancy?”
DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, “I have spare tire on my car.”
“I also have life insurance,” he added. “I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for.”
As many have pointed out, preparing to get a flat tire is not the same as preparing to be raped. You won’t get HIV from a flat tire, for example. Nor will you get pregnant. To help Rep. DeGraaf understand the many differences between rape and a flat tire, I’ve made the Venn diagram below. But I can’t help but think it’s not that he doesn’t know the difference: it’s just that he doesn’t care.
