AOC Says ‘Anti-Choice, Forced Birth Laws’ Similar to ‘Rape Culture’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to Instagram on Thursday night to rail against pro-life Republicans and draw a “direct through-line” from that position to rape culture.

In her video, the New York congresswoman talked about her own experience with sexual assault, saying she was grateful at the time to “at least felt like I could have had a choice in what happened” amidst her trauma. She then pivoted into targeting Republicans, accusing them of trying to rip this choice away.

Ocasio-Cortez’s video comes amidst intense debate surrounding Roe v. Wade potentially being overturned, something a draft opinion leaked from the Supreme Court recently suggested could happen. If the case were overturned, numerous states could theoretically move to fully ban or severely restrict access to abortion.

The conservative Justices connected to the opinion draft leak have faced protests outside their homes and widespread outrage among pro-choice advocates.

According to Ocasio-Cortez, Republicans are “forcing themselves” on women’s bodies without consent in the debate on abortion.

“No person, no man, no person can take your body, can ethically take your body and use it how they want without your consent, and that is exactly what Republicans are doing right now. They are taking women’s bodies and forcing themselves on women’s bodies,” she said.

“Forcing their opinions. Forcing their perspective on women’s bodies without their consent,” she continued. “They are violating not just women, but trans people and non-binary people in this country.”

The congresswoman then grew visibly more frustrated, telling her massive social media following she’s trying not to curse when discussing the issue. She did deploy clean language to draw a “through-line” between rape culture and pro-life positions.

“They are forcing themselves on our bodies without our consent, and they’re trying to legislate that in the law, and that is honestly the similarity between rape culture and these horrifying anti-choice, forced birth laws. Direct through-line,” she said.

Though she mostly targeted Republicans in the abortion debate, Ocasio-Cortez went on in the wide-ranging post to say even some Democrats are not pro-choice enough and should be pushed out of Congress.

“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, if you believe in taking a woman’s choice away from them, you gotta go,” she declared.