Jen Psaki Hits TX Gov’s Abortion Comments: If He Has a Way of ‘Eliminating All Rapists’ Everyone Would Support That

White House press secretary Jen Psaki knocked Governor Greg Abbott Wednesday for his comments defending Texas’ abortion ban.

Abbott has faced intense criticism over the Lone Star State’s new anti-abortion law that prohibits abortions after six weeks and allows for people to file lawsuits against anyone involved in providing one.

The governor was confronted Tuesday about the law not having exceptions in the cases of rape and incest. He responded by saying the law provides “at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion” and added, “Rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas… Goal number one in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person would be a victim of rape.”

Psaki responded at Wednesday’s briefing by saying, “If Governor Abbott has a means of eliminating all rapists or all rape from the United States, then there’d be bipartisan support for that.”

Psaki denounces Texas’s anti-abortion law and Gov. Greg Abbott and pledges the White House will work to “provide assistance as quickly as we can” to vulnerable women https://t.co/uNcZSUneXB pic.twitter.com/xAj3LGmsTf

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) September 8, 2021

“But given there has never in the history of the country, in the world, been any leader who’s ever been able to eliminate rape, eliminate rapists from our streets, it’s even more imperative — it’s one of the many reasons, I should say, not the only reason, why women in Texas should have access to health care,” she continued.

Psaki said the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services have been looking at legal options.

You can watch above, via Bloomberg.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!