Fact check: Ark. rapists can’t sue victims over abortion
The claim: Four screenshots posted together on Instagram claim that: Arkansas allows rapists to sue their victims over abortion; an Oklahoma legislator believes that God ordains rape; a judge gave joint custody to a rapist; and North Carolina doesn’t allow people to withdraw consent for sex.
An Instagram post made by Todd Chrisley, a Georgia-based Realtor with a reality television series, appeared to show four screenshots about rape and abortion laws in the U.S. with the caption: “What is wrong with this world and the people living in it?”
The claims made in the images, which were shared with Chrisley’s 2.2 million followers, were that Arkansas allows rapists to sue to block an abortion, North Carolina doesn’t allow someone to revoke their consent once sex has started, a rapist was given joint custody of his son, and an Oklahoma state representative said that rape was “the will of God.”
Chrisley’s agent was unable to provide additional information, but here is what The Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network, found.
“Arkansas just passed a law that will let rapists sue victims who want an abortion”
The first image appears to come from a February 2017 article posted on a British online newspaper called The Independent. The headlines are nearly identical.
But as to the bigger question of whether it’s an accurate description of a law passed in Arkansas, the answer is no.
House Bill 1032 outlawed a common abortion procedure that its critics described as barbaric and dangerous to women, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, a daily newspaper in Little Rock.
The law, which was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, doesn’t allow anyone to sue the woman seeking an abortion. Instead, it allows parents (if the patient was a minor) and husbands to sue doctors for injunctive relief (i.e., to stop future procedures).
The only exception granted under the law: cases in which the mother’s life is at risk. No exception was made for rape — including spousal rape, which means that a man convicted of rape could theoretically sue the doctor.
The law also gave standing to lawsuits for “psychological injuries,” but “civil damages shall not be awarded to a plaintiff if the pregnancy resulted from the criminal conduct of the plaintiff.”
Oklahoma Republican declares that rape is “the will of God”
This image also comes from an article written in 2017, but it isn’t from a news outlet. Church and State is a London-based organization that claims its mission is “challenging religious privilege in public life.”
Despite the political leanings of the post’s author, the claim appears to be mostly true. Here’s what happened:
In March 2017, the Oklahoma legislature was debating an abortion bill that would make it illegal for doctors to perform the procedure if the reason given was a genetic disorder.
Republican Rep. George Faught, who co-sponsored the bill, got into an exchange with Democratic Rep. Cory Williams about why the bill didn’t have an exemption for rape and incest.
Here’s a transcript of part of their debate:
Williams: Representative, is rape the will of God?
Faught: Well, you know, if you read the Bible, there’s actually a couple of circumstances where that happened, and the Lord uses all circumstances. I mean, you know, you can go down that path, but it’s a reality, unfortunately. Williams: Is incest the will of God? Faught: Same answer. Doesn’t deal with this bill.
Williams: With all due respect, I think it absolutely is on point. You won’t make any exceptions for rape. You won’t make any exceptions for incest in this, and you are proffering divine intervention as the reason why you won’t do that. And so I think it is very important, this body wants to know, myself, personally, whether you believe rape and incest are actually the will of God.
Faught: You know, it’s a great question to ask, and obviously if it happens in someone’s life, it may not be the best thing that ever happened. You know, but ... so you’re saying that God is not sovereign with every activity that happens in someone’s life and can’t use anything and everything in someone’s life, and I disagree with that.
Faught doesn’t explicitly say that rape is the will of God, as the article’s headline would lead someone to believe, but that’s the logical conclusion drawn from his statements that God is sovereign (supreme ruler) over every part of a person’s life, and at least allowed the rape to occur — although he commanded the death penalty for the offense.
“Man who raped 12-year-old awarded joint custody of her child”
This headline comes from an October 2017 Yahoo News article that outlines how Christopher Mirasolo was given joint custody of a child despite being convicted of raping the boy’s mother and sexually assaulting another underage victim.
The story was accurate; however, the judge quickly reversed his order, according to The Detriot News.
“I do believe, given the way this consent order was presented, I should have been advised the defendant raped the plaintiff,” Sanilac County Judge Gregory Ross said at the time. “(Prosecutor James) Young advised he is reviewing his procedures. He is doing what he can to correct the mistake and see that it doesn’t happen again.”
“Getting away with rape?”
The fourth image appears to be from a television report about a North Carolina law. USA Today could not verify the source of the image, and Chrisley’s agent was unable to provide a source.
The image appears to potentially be taken out of context. It correctly stated that North Carolina law didn’t allow a person to withdraw consent once a sex act had begun, and that state lawmakers were considering a change. However, the image doesn’t explain the change.
In November 2019, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill into law that made it illegal for someone to continue intercourse after one partner revoked consent, according to The News & Observer, a daily newspaper in Raleigh. The law also made it a crime to have sex with someone who is incapacitated from drugs or alcohol.
“Finally, in North Carolina, no means no,” Cooper said at the time.
Our Rating: Partially True
USA Today verified three of the images as being from articles written at the time of the events and one that appeared to have come from a real news report. However, the images were missing critical context — including the outright reversal of two of the implied offenses.
Our fact check sources:
https://www.independent.co.uk/ news/world/americas/arkansas-abortion-law-will-let-rapists-sue-victimshusbands-second-trimester-a7561066. html
https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/ Acts/document?type=pdf&act=45&dd Bienniumsession=2017%2f2017r
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/jan/27/ governor-signs-bill-on-abortionhttps://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=57awgjw0xba &feature=emb_logo
https://www.yahoo.com/ news/man-raped-12-old-awarded-114904992.html
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/10/17/ sex-offender-custody-case-hearing/106736162/
https://www.newsobserver.com/ news/politics-government/article237155589.html
Our fact checks are funded in part by Facebook, which has no say on their content. astaver@dispatch.com @Annastaver