Some local governments have also pushed back against the Texas law, including Portland, Ore., which announced a plan to sever contracts worth up to $7 million per year with Texas-based businesses, the
Oregonian reported.
Fletcher said she would support efforts to prioritize victims of sexual assault in Texas,
which reported more rapes than the national average in 2019, by putting resources toward rape kit backlogs and other measures to combat violence. But the congresswoman said she questioned the sincerity behind Abbott’s Tuesday comments about rapists.
“We know that Texas, unfortunately, has not been making this its top priority,” she added. “It has instead made its top priority banning abortion.”
Texas state Rep. Gene Wu (D), who represents a district near Houston, also expressed doubt about Abbott’s plan to stop rapes in Texas.
“Wait,” Wu
said in a tweet mocking Abbott’s answer, “Governor Abbott had a solution to end all RAPE and he sat on it until now?”