State Rep. Hovis says he misspoke about 'consensual rapes' during abortion debate; words capture national attention

A Cape Girardeau County lawmaker and former police officer said he erred in referring to “consensual rapes” during debate in the Missouri House on a strong anti-abortion bill.

During debate on the House floor on the final day of the 2019 legislative session, state Rep. Barry Hovis, R-Gordonville, voiced support for the measure, which bans abortions after eight weeks and doesn’t allow exceptions for rape or incest.

“I did misspeak,” he told the Southeast Missourian of using the words, “consensual rape.” He said rape is never consensual.

During debate, Hovis said most of the rape cases he worked as a Cape Girardeau police officer were “date rapes or consensual rapes.”

He said most of those rapes “were not the gentlemen jumping out of the bushes that nobody had ever met.”

He told his fellow lawmakers “juries would struggle with those types of situations where it was a ‘he-said, she-said,’ and they would find the person not guilty.”

Under this bill, he said, someone who becomes pregnant as a result of a sexual assault has “eight weeks to make a decision” about whether to have an abortion.

Abortion-rights supporters who attended the House debate hissed in response to Hovis’ “consensual rapes” comment.

Democratic Rep. Raychel Proudie of Ferguson, Missouri, told colleagues on the House floor “there is no such thing as consensual rape,” The Associated Press reported.

Hovis told the Southeast Missourian he did not realize he had used the term “consensual rapes” until it was pointed out by a House colleague.

He said he then went over to Proudie during debate to inform her he misspoke.

Hovis said his remarks were intended to convey that individuals charged in rape cases often claimed the activity was consensual.

In those cases, there was a “difference of opinion” between the two parties, he said in explaining his comment.

But Hovis offered a slightly different explanation to The Associated Press.

He indicated he had meant to say “date rapes or consensual or rape.”

According to the news service, Hovis said, “It’s my apology if I didn’t annunciate the word ‘or.’”

The Associated Press and other news organizations said Hovis’ reference to “consensual rapes” was reminiscent of former Republican Rep. Todd Akin, who lost the state’s U.S. Senate race in 2012 after stating women’s bodies can ward off pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape.”

The story was picked up by several national news organizations, including CNN and the Washington Post.

The measure passed the House on Friday by a vote of 110 to 44, one day after the Senate had passed the measure.

Gov. Mike Parson has promised to sign the bill into law.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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