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A warning - our next story is about sexual assault. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade two years ago, one study estimates there's been nearly 65,000 pregnancies from rape in states where abortion is banned. Many of those states' bans include exceptions for rape, but how often are those exceptions granted? Here's reporter Katia Riddle.
KATIA RIDDLE: A few years ago, the case of a 10-year-old rape victim who got an abortion in Indiana made national news. But cases like that are rare. There is no database tracking abortions permitted for rape. For this story, NPR looked at state records, and talked to doctors and advocates in places that theoretically grant these exemptions.
LAURIE BERTRAM ROBERTS: I've never seen someone get an exemption.
RIDDLE: Laurie Bertram Roberts is with the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund. It's an organization that helps people statewide access abortion. Mississippi's law does technically allow the procedure if someone's been raped.
BERTRAM ROBERTS: But the question is, even if you got an exemption in Mississippi, who's going to perform your abortion?
RIDDLE: The Society of Family Planning tracks reproductive data, and counted zero abortions statewide in 2023. One likely reason - the significant shortage of obstetricians. That's on top of the legal hurdles. Mississippi, like many states, requires rape victims who wants an abortion to make a report to law enforcement. Bertram Roberts says she became pregnant years ago, after she was raped by someone she lived with.
BERTRAM ROBERTS: Where was I going to go?
RIDDLE: She says reporting him, risking his arrest - it could have meant losing her housing.
BERTRAM ROBERTS: We shared a residence. There was no domestic violence shelter that would take me, 'cause my family was too big.
RIDDLE: Bertram Roberts has seven kids. She did eventually disentangle herself from this man. Now she works with people in this same situation. She says there's a perception of, quote, "good and bad abortions" among those that defend state bans.
BERTRAM ROBERTS: Saying, look, there is access. Look, we've got these exemptions. See? See? But the truth is, the exemptions are all rhetoric and no practical use.
RIDDLE: Mississippi governor Tate Reeves is one person who promised these exemptions. Here he is on CNN, discussing the state's law in 2022.
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TATE REEVES: Yes, our trigger law will go into effect. It does have an exception for rape.
RIDDLE: NPR reached out to Reeves' office, as well as lawmakers in multiple states who sponsored these bans, and to national anti-abortion groups. None of them wanted to speak on this subject. One group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, did issue a written statement. It reads, quote, "if there are doctors who are confused about rape exceptions, hospital administrations and health associations should provide clarity." Jessica Tarleton is an obstetrician in South Carolina. She says many doctors there are scared.
JESSICA TARLETON: Like, well, I don't have time to get into this. I don't have a lawyer. I don't want to pay somebody to do this, and so I'm just going to stay away. You know, I'm just going to distance myself from that practice altogether.
RIDDLE: In South Carolina, the law mandates that doctors like Tarleton can perform an abortion for pregnancy due to rape. Afterward, they must report it to their local sheriff's office.
TARLETON: I think we're turning patients into potential criminals.
RIDDLE: Involving law enforcement, she says, makes patients and doctors feel like they're in trouble. Tarleton says no other kind of medicine demands doctors legally justify care.
TARLETON: If somebody comes into the emergency room who's been shot, we don't ask them what they did to be in a position to be shot. You know, we take care of the patient.
RIDDLE: She still tries to offer abortion care to assault victims whenever she legally can. It's rare.
TARLETON: In the past two years, I am aware of one instance, one patient that I was associated with, that sought a legal abortion under the rape exception.
RIDDLE: The number of exceptions granted for rape is hard to measure. When providers report abortion data, they don't include the reason an abortion was performed. NPR talked to doctors and advocates in six of the 11 states that theoretically grant exemptions for rape. Only a handful of doctors reported using the law with any consistency. Those who did were all specialists at academic medical institutions, like Dr. Nisha Verma in Georgia.
NISHA VERMA: I probably see someone who has been raped or experienced incest who meets that exception maybe every couple weeks.
RIDDLE: She is not an official spokesperson, so she did not want to be identified with her institution's name. Her employer has legal resources to assist doctors in managing risks, protocols and task forces. That helps mitigate doctors' fears of losing their medical license, being fined or even going to jail.
VERMA: At my institution, we have really, again, worked to create a system that helps us as doctors feel more supported and protected, providing the maximum amount of care that we can under this very restrictive law.
RIDDLE: She still has to turn patients away, but she says she can at least have candid conversations with them about whether the law allows them to have an abortion when they've been raped.
For NPR News, I'm Katia Riddle. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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