Ohio Democrat Teresa Fedor speaks out during abortion debate to reveal she has been raped – and is interrupted by laughter from Republicans
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Version 0 of 1. An Ohio politician was interrupted by laughter from opposing party members during an impassioned speech in which she revealed that she had been raped. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat State Representative, became so incensed during a debate on a bill to ban all but the earliest abortions that she stood up and spoke for the first time about her own personal experience with the issue. House Bill 69, known as the Heartbeat Bill, would ban abortions in Ohio as soon as a fetal heartbeat could be detected by doctors – in some cases as early as six weeks. It has proved controversial in a state where such a law is unlikely to ever be agreed by the Senate – and would probably be struck down by the US Supreme Court, which has generally ruled that states cannot impose abortion limits until around the 24-week mark. But as the momentum of the debate went in favour of passing the law last week, 58-year-old Ms Fedor stood up and dressed down her colleagues for “stacking stories to weigh one way or the other”, according to local newspaper the Toledo Blade. “I’ve not heard one exception or one point that is sorely missed, and that is rape, that is trauma. The decision of the individual woman,” she said. “I’ve heard all these stories that just fit your scenario and I respect that, but you don’t respect my reason, my rape, my abortion. “What you’re doing is so fundamentally inhuman, unconstitutional, and I’ve sat here too long. And I dare every one of you to judge me, but you deserve my lecture right now.” Speaking across the house to her Republican opponents, she said: “I’m more Republican, more libertarian than you are, just look at my record. I don’t want government in my business, I want my freedom. I fought in the military for that freedom. “And for all those women in the military who were raped – I see people laughing, I don’t appreciate that, on the other side, and it happens to be a man who’s laughing. I don’t know if it’s about what I’m saying but this is serious business right now. “And I’m speaking for all the women in Ohio who didn’t get the opportunity to be in front of the community and make this kind of statement. I urge you to defeat this bill.” According to Think Progress, Ms Fedor is only the latest female politician to speak up about her own experience of abortion during debates on the issue across the US. Ms Toledo later said she felt compelled to speak and that there were members of her own family who had not known about her experience. |