SANTA FE, N.M. – A Republican state legislator, under fire for sponsoring a bill critics said could lead to felony charges against rape victims, acknowledged Thursday her proposal was poorly written.
“I missed this one,” said New Mexico State Rep. Cathrynn Brown.
Her proposal, House Bill 206, included the wording: “Tampering with evidence shall include procuring or facilitating an abortion, or compelling or coercing another to obtain an abortion, of a fetus that is the result of criminal sexual penetration or incest with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime.”
Her bill sparked a flurry of criticism in the state capitol and on the Internet. Democrats and women’s rights groups said it could lead to charges against rape victims seeking an abortion. Critics characterized the proposal as a second assault on rape victims.
Brown, however, said she did not intend to charge rape victims with a crime.
She said her bill was badly drafted and that she did not catch the language problems when she reviewed it.
Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, said Brown’s intent was to focus on a perpetrator, such as a stepfather who raped a teen, impregnated her and then demanded she get an abortion.
An attorney, Brown said her normal practice is to edit a bill carefully before releasing it. This time, a drafting error occurred and she was not diligent enough, she said.
“She’s horrified,” Gentry said.
Brown, who is starting her second term in the House of Representatives, said she had never been through a firestorm like this one.
New Mexico Democratic Party chairman Javier Gonzales called the bill an “atrocious piece of legislation,” according to the Associated Press.
“This bill is wrong, and should never see the light of day in any legislature in this country, let alone New Mexico,” said Gonzales. “The war on women in America has to stop. No woman should ever be forced to carry a child for ‘evidence,’ plain and simple.”
Milan Simonich, Santa Fe bureau chief of Texas-New Mexico Newspapers, can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or 505-820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com
