A Democrat state legislator from New Mexico is coming under fire for an insensitive comment about women who are victimized by rape — claiming that “some rape is just drunken college sex.”
Democratic Rep. W. Ken Martinez, the former New Mexico state House speaker, made the insensitive comment during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee last Wednesday. “Rape is defined in many ways and some of it is just drunken college sex,” Rep. Martinez can be heard saying in the archived recording.
The comment, which came during a committee hearing on legislation to terminate the parental rights of those who rape, already has Republican lawmakers calling on him to apologize:
“I don’t know if it was taken out of context, but it deserves an apology,” Rep. Kelly Fajardo, a Republican from Belen said of the comment.
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“He’s trying to equate rape with drunken sex,” she said. “Rape is rape and it should not be excused.”
Rebecca Kiessling, a pro-life advocate who was conceived in rape and advocates for babies who are conceived in rape and killed in abortions, tells LifeNews.com she is outraged by Martinez’s remark.
“I’m appalled by Rep. W. Ken Martinez’s callous comments. He now claims his comments were taken out of context, but in context and hearing his tone of voice, it’s clear that he was diminishing rape, and he absolutely owes an apology,” she said.
Kiessling, who is working with the lawmaker sponsoring the bill to terminal rapists’ parental rights, added: “The prejudice of men like him are why this bill didn’t make it through the New Mexico legislature the last legislative cycle. New Mexico legislators need to understand that women really are raped, that the majority of those who become pregnant not only choose life, but choose to raise their precious children, and that rapists really do sue for custody as vengeance for her prosecuting him, for the state pursuing paternity and child support, and also as a way to continue to try to exert power and control over her.”
“These mothers and their children deserve to be protected from the rapists, and New Mexico legislators need to quit making excuses for rapists and get this bill passed,” she concluded.
