Texas rape law namesake breaks Abbott pledge to “eliminate” rapists

• Rape survivor Lavinia Masters told CNN that Texas Gov. Abbott’s promise to “eliminate all rapists” in the state is unrealistic.
• Masters was raped when she was 13 and her rape kit has remained untested for over 20 years.
• In 2019, Abbott signed into law the Lavinia Craftsmen Act to address the issue of stockpiled rape kits in the state.

The namesake of the law aimed at speeding up trials of rape kits in Texas has been criticized by Governor Greg Abbott. promise to “eliminate all rapists from the streets” so women don’t have to worry about the new draconian anti-abortion legislation.

“It would be great to see it, but it won’t happen.” – Lavinia Masters said on Monday in an interview with CNN…

On September 1, a Texas law known as SB8 went into effect, significantly limiting the ability of people to have abortions in the state. Legislation prohibits abortion after the first six weeks of pregnancy, when most people do not yet realize that they are pregnant, and does not include an exception for rape or incest.

When Abbott was asked at a press conference last week why the state forces a rape victim to endure a pregnancy, he said the law allows a rape victim for at least six weeks to have an abortion, and added that Texas would “work.” tirelessly eliminate all rapists from the streets ”.

“This is stupid,” Masters told CNN. “That makes absolutely no sense.”

Abbott signed into law the Lavinia Masters Act in 2019. Masters was raped by an attacker in 1995 when she was 13 years old, according to CNN. The rape kit associated with the Masters case had been on shelves unchecked for over 20 years, and by the time her kit was finally tested, she found the assailant was already in prison for raping two other women.

“I didn’t know who he was and this kid wants to know his father,” Masters told CNN, holding back tears. “They don’t know their origin, they don’t know their history, I don’t know about their diseases or anything else, but I would have to carry this child. It’s not even common sense. “

Abortion rights advocates have expressed concern that SB8 will force women to leave Texas to have an abortion. An insider said that some immigrants considered fleeing the state and returning to Mexico for the procedure following the abortion criminalization of the country on 7 September.