Tag: rape
GOP Senate Fundraiser Hosted By Donors Who Defended Rape

GOP Senate Fundraiser Hosted By Donors Who Defended Rape

A pair of wealthy tech industry donors with a history of writing rape apologia are set to host a major fundraiser for Senate Republicans and Senate candidates next week. At least nine current nominees, in addition to Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), are expected to attend the Florida event.

According to the event invitation, first reported by Puck News reporter Teddy Schleifer in late August, the "Take Back the Senate" reception will be held at the Miami home of former PayPal executive vice president Keith Rabois and his husband Jacob Helberg on September 15. Former PayPal chief operating officer David Sacks is also listed as a host of the event, which will cost attendees between $1,000 and $50,000 per-person to attend.

In addition to Scott (R-FL), Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are expected to attend, along with GOP Senate nominees Blake Masters, Joe O'Dea, Adam Laxalt, Ted Budd, J.D. Vance, Mehmet Oz, and Tiffany Smiley as "special guests" for the fundraisier. The invitation pledges that there are "more senators and candidates to be announced."

Rabois and Sacks both have longstanding connections to white nationalist-linked PayPal's founder Peter Thiel, dating back to their time attending Stanford University together in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Thiel has already largely bankrolled the campaigns of Vance and Masters, both who formerly worked for the billionaire.

As a Stanford Law School student, Rabois, reportedly got into trouble in 1992 for berating a member of the faculty and calling them "faggot" and yelling, "Hope you die of AIDS." He later claimed he intended "to make a provocative statement."

After Stuart Thomas, a senior year student at Stanford, was charged with statutory rape of another student that same year, Rabois co-authored a column in a special "Rape Issue" of Stanford Review, Thiel's conservative school publication. According to the book The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power, the column "joked" that the dorm building where the attack took place may become "the solution to asexually frustrated freshmen."

Sacks also contributed to the "Rape Issue," writing an article defending the perpetrator and dismissing statutory rape as "a moral directive left on the books by pre-sexual revolution crustaceans."

Sacks and Thiel co-authored a 1995 book together called The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and Political Tolerance on Campus, throughout which they defend Rabois' anti-LGBTQ outburst. They also dismissed date rapes in the book as "seductions that were later regretted." Both have since tried to distance themselves from their writing.

Sacks told Recode in 2016 that the book was “college journalism written over 20 years ago," although it was published after their college careers, and that "it does not represent who I am or what I believe today. I'm embarrassed by some of my former views and regret writing them.”

In 2013, Rabois resigned from his chief operating officer position at Square Inc., after accusations of sexual harassment. Though he denied the allegations, he admitted in an open letter that he had a "physical relationship" with an employee even after he recruited him to join the company staff, which he described as "poor judgment on my part."

Though the event will be at the home of a married same-sex married couple — with donors who have made anti-LGBTQ statements — several of the Republican candidates that will be in attendance have long records of opposing LGBTQ rights and marriage equality.

Even after attending Thiel's 2017 marriage to husband Matt Danzeisen, Masters reportedly said in February that "Marriage is between a man and a woman. ... Marriage is an institution that goes back thousands of years, and it has a point. The point is procreation and creating children."

When the American Independent Foundation asked for comment via email for this story, Rabois wrote back: "No, not for this level of biased stupidity."

Sacks, Senate Republicans, and Republican candidates scheduled to attend the fundraiser did not immediately respond to inquiries.

Reprinted with permission from American Independent.

Spurred By Anti-Abortion Website, Death Threats Hit Indiana Doctor (And Her Child)

Spurred By Anti-Abortion Website, Death Threats Hit Indiana Doctor (And Her Child)

The Indiana abortion doctor at the center of the report involving a procedure performed on a 10-year-old rape victim is reportedly facing an onslaught of threats, according to The Guardian.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) previously warned Planned Parenthood that it had received intel about a potential threat against Dr. Caitlin Bernard and her child. The nonprofit organization, in turn, warned Bernard of the threats. The bureau indicated that Bernard had been called out on a website run by the anti-abortion group Right to Life Michiana.

Bernard was one of several doctors listed under the site's Local Abortion Threat section. Last year, Bernard testified that she was forced to "stop providing first-trimester abortions at a clinic in South Bend."

The latest development comes months after the initial report back in January. That report included a detailed explanation of Barrett's ties to the site. Back in 2006, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was employed as a Notre Dame professor at the time, reportedly endorsed one of the group's advertisements opposing abortion.

"Barrett, who voted to overturn Roe v Wade last month, signed a two-page advertisement published by the group in 2006, while she was working as a professor at Notre Dame. It stated that those who signed 'oppose abortion on demand and defend the right to life from fertilization to natural death,'" The Guardian reported.

"The second page of the ad called Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion, 'barbaric,'" the news outlet added. "The advertisement was published in the South Bend Tribune by St Joseph County Right to Life, which merged with Right to Life Michiana in 2020."

According to the report, "Bernard is still listed on the Right to Life Michiana website," with the Guardian's Stephanie Kirchgaessner adding, "It is a common tactic employed by anti-abortion groups that supporters of abortion rights have said invites threats of violence and intimidation against abortion providers."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'Oh God, No': Republicans Grow Fearful As Child Rape Case Blows Up

'Oh God, No': Republicans Grow Fearful As Child Rape Case Blows Up

Because so many Republicans are sick people, GOP lawmakers immediately worked to discredit the story of a young Ohio rape victim being forced to cross state lines to get an abortion, claiming it was a lie.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, subtweeted an article questioning the story with the accusation, "Another lie. Anyone surprised?"

That was Tuesday. Only, it wasn't a lie. By Wednesday, Jordan had deleted the tweet.

The case of the 10-year-old victim from Ohio, where a six-week abortion ban is now in place, traveling to Indiana in order to terminate her pregnancy gained prominence after an outraged President Joe Biden cited it last Friday during remarks at the White House.

“Ten years old — 10 years old! — raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state," Biden recounted just before signing a series of executive actions designed to help preserve abortion access for women.

Republicans quickly got to work undermining the story. Then an arrest was made in the case and Republicans quickly got to work getting outraged that any doctor dared to help this poor defenseless child access an abortion because 'god's plan,' or some shit (sorry, not sorry).

Let's just stop here for a quick moment to revisit how devastatingly unpopular criminalizing abortion is based on May polling from Politico/Morning Consult.

  • Prison time for women who get abortions: 16 percent support, 73 percent oppose
  • Prison time for doctors who perform abortions: 22 percent support, 68 percent oppose
  • Fines for women who get abortions: 22 percent support, 66 percent oppose
  • Fines for doctors who perform abortions: 29 percent support, 61 percent oppose

So immediately after Republicans disgraced themselves by baselessly declaring the story a lie because facts aren't exactly their jam, they quickly took up the mantle of punishing the doctors who helped the girl because extremism is their jam.

“We’re gathering the evidence as we speak, and we’re going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure if she failed to report. And in Indiana it’s a crime … to intentionally not report,” state Attorney General Todd Rokita said on Fox News on Wednesday night.

That's exactly the type of radical, misguided crusade by GOP zealots that has Republican strategists banging their heads against the wall ahead of a midterm election where the historical indicators all favor them. Politico writes:

“Oh, God no,” one prominent Republican strategist said, after members of his party suggested the victim should have carried the pregnancy to term. “Very bad,” said another. Or as one anti-abortion rights Indiana Republican strategist put it, “I’m not touching this story with a 10-foot-pole wrapped in a blanket wrapped in a whatever.”

But the zealots who dominate the Republican Party aren't listening. Jim Bopp, an Indiana lawyer who authored model legislation that would force a rape victim to carry such a pregnancy to term, defended a forced birth in the case.

“She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child,” said Bopp, general counsel for the National Right to Life.

Forcing anyone to carry a rapist’s baby to term is just sick. But it's worth noting the obvious: A 10-year-old isn't a woman—a distinction that was clearly lost on Bopp. The victim was a little girl whose life has already been forever changed for the worse.

But the zealots want to maximize the tragedy because 'god's plan,' or some shit (not sorry).

Anyway, GOP operatives are losing their minds.

“Every day that we’re talking about anything but Biden’s cost of living is a wasted day politically,” said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist. “You know, we’ve got a historic opportunity here this November, and let’s not blow it.”

Too late. Stories of the gut-wrenching misery Republicans have now visited upon America aren't going anywhere until Roe is codified into federal law.

“These are the kind of things that are going to breathe life into the Democrats’ hopes of maintaining some sort of coalition,” lamented John Thomas, a Republican strategist who works on House campaigns across the country. But, he added, “I don’t think this is the dominant issue as we’re going into November, but these kinds of unforced errors are lifelines for the Democrats.”

That "by November" theme is a popular refrain among GOP strategists—especially the male ones.

Dave Carney, a national Republican strategist in New Hampshire, told Politico that, by November, “it’s not going to matter what Bopp or whatever … his name is says. It’s not going to trump 9.1% inflation.”

Whether those strategists are right or wrong remains to be seen. But with any luck, male Republicans across the country will keep reiterating how inconsequential stripping 50% of the population of bodily autonomy will be in November. The more they say it, the better.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Top Anti-Abortion Group Would Force Raped Child To Carry Pregnancy

Top Anti-Abortion Group Would Force Raped Child To Carry Pregnancy

The top attorney for the far-right anti-abortion group National Right to Life Committee says the 10-year old Ohio girl forced to travel to Indiana to obtain an abortion after being raped should have given birth to her rapist’s baby.

James Bopp, Jr., who worked to help overturn the 2020 election results by filing lawsuits favoring Donald Trump, is general counsel for National Right to Life. He tells Politico the model legislation he drafted and is attempting to have states pass would have banned the child rape victim from being able to have an abortion – adding he would hope she understands.

“She would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child,” Bopp said.

Bopp “told Politico on Thursday that his law only provides exceptions when the pregnant person’s life is in danger.”

That comes as some experts are noting that “life of the mother” restrictions may be even more draconian – and subject to interpretation of law enforcement authorities or others – than previously understood.

Referring to the case of the 10-year-old child, attorney Ken White says “some people suggest that they’re relying on the exception for protecting the life of the mother,” to allow her to have an abortion in her home state of Ohio.

“But that strikes me as a grave risk for anyone involved in the abortion,” he adds, “in that it relies on prosecutors agreeing that the abortion is ‘necessary’ to prevent the death of ‘risk of serious and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function’ of the 10 year old.”

“Since some heartbreakingly young children do, in fact, give birth and survive,” White continues, “are we really going to trust prosecutors, in THIS environment, with plenty of ‘medical experts’ out there ready to take money to testify however prosecutors want, not to charge doctors over this? The doctor is supposed to take that risk?”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.