AOC breaks down 'Biology 101' to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his 'deep ignorance' on abortions

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's "deep ignorance" on abortion this week after the Republican defended the state's restrictive new abortion law. "He speaks from such a place of deep ignorance ... and it's not just ignorance, it's ignorance that's hurting people across this country," the New York Democrat told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. AOC's comments came in response to Abbott's false claims that the legislation does not force victims of rape or incest to give birth even though it prohibits abortions after about six weeks — which is before many people even know they're pregnant.

At a bill signing for a different piece of legislation Tuesday, when asked about the controversial anti-abortion law's lack of exception for rape or incest — which essentially forcing victims to carry their pregnancy to term — Abbott misleadingly claimed that the law does not require that. "Obviously, it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion, and so, for one, it doesn't provide that," he said. "That said... 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."

Reacting to the governor's comments later that day, AOC said that they were a "disgusting" defense of a law centered on "controlling people who are not cisgender men." "I do know that he's not familiar with a female or menstruating person's body, because if he did, he would know that you don't have six weeks. That 'six weeks'—and I'm sorry we have to break down Biology 101 on national television, but in case no one has informed him before in his life, six weeks pregnant means two weeks late for your period. And two weeks late on your period for any person with a menstrual cycle... can happen if you're stressed, if your diet changes, or for really no reason at all, so you don't have six weeks."

"The majority of people who are raped and who are sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone they know," the 31-year-old continued. "These aren't just predators that are walking around the streets at night. They are people's uncles, they are teachers, they are family friends, and when something like that happens, it takes a very long time, first of all, for any victim to come forward. And second of all, when a victim comes forward, they don't necessarily want to bring their case into the carceral system. They don't want to re-traumatize themselves by going to court, they don't necessarily all want to report a family friend to a police precinct, let alone in the immediate aftermath of the trauma of a sexual assault."

"This idea that we're going to 'end rape' when the same type of, frankly, rape culture and the same type of misogynistic culture that informed this abortion law to begin with, those beliefs are held by the Governor himself and the Texas state legislature... It's awful," AOC concluded. Posting a video of her appearance on AC360 to her Instagram profile, the lawmaker drove her message home. "No rape survivor truly has six weeks to get an abortion. Nor do many ever report their assaults. The Governor’s remarks are disgusting," she captioned the video. "The Texas abortion law is about controlling the bodies of pregnant people. If the Republican Party truly cared about life, they would support an agenda that funds healthcare, maternal care, childcare, and other resources that keep pregnant people and children safe."