This week, the United States Senate and House of Representatives are considering S. 403 and H.R. 748, bills that would make it a criminal act to help a teenage girl travel to an abortion clinic across state lines. Why? Well, those girls are to be considered the medical properties of their parents… even if their fathers raped them.

The Senate and House bills make no exception in case of rape or incest. So, if fathers rape their daughters and make them pregnant, those pedophiles will be able to stop their daughters from getting an abortion in a state where it’s legal.

Even if there were exemptions in case of rape or incest in these bills, the bills would still be cruel jokes. Why? The only states in the USA where there area not already state parental notification laws on the books are Washington, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and the District of Columbia. Are we really supposed to believe that the citizens of these states are clamoring for restrictions on abortion? They’re not. These bills are just more right wing election year garbage.

This issue matters. Right now in Mississippi, Operation Rescue, an organization connected to violence outside of abortion clinics, is trying to shut down the sole remaining family planning clinic that offers abortion. If Operation Rescue succeeds, and Congress passes S. 403 and H.R. 748, teenage girls in Mississippi won’t have any refuge, even if they are raped or are the victims of incest.

I have a daughter, and I can tell you that this kind of garbage has nothing to do with my family’s values. If my daughter gets in trouble, I want her to be able to seek out help, even if her mother and I are not available to help her.