Greg Abbott's Statements on Rapists Are Inaccurate
The Claim
It is possible to eliminate all rapists by getting them “off the streets.”
News posted on
Emerging story
On Tuesday, September 7, Texas Governor Greg Abbott was questioned about the state’s new restrictive abortion law, that bans abortion even in cases of rape and incest. In response, Abbott said: “Let's make something very clear: Rape is a crime. And Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.”
This sparked a social media conversation about rapists, particularly that they are out there on “the streets.”
Misbar’s Analysis
We discovered that Texas has the most forcible rapes reported of any state in the U.S.
Texas also currently has over 6,000 untested rape kits. The Institute of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault found that Texas women who are raped report less than the national average, meaning that over 90% of rapes go unreported.
Further, the majority of rape is committed by someone the victim knows. According to CEO of the Houston Area Women’s Center Emilee Whitehurst, “The bulk of those crimes are committed by people that we know, so it's not a matter of hunting the rapists down and getting them off the streets. They are teachers, they are pastors, they are our husbands, they are our boyfriends. The relational dynamics that are at play when you've been assaulted by someone, and it results in a pregnancy, are very challenging.”
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that 80% of rapes are committed by someone the victim knows – not a stranger on the streets.
Abbott’s statements on rapists are highly inaccurate; we rate his claim as misleading.
