Pennsylvania Bill Will Require Low-Income Women to Prove They Were Raped to Receive Additional Assistance

Four Republicans and a Democrat in Pennsylvania support a bill that would limit government assistance to women who become pregnant while already receiving government assistance. Women who become pregnant while qualifying for the assistance will still be eligible to the aid they currently receive, though, if they can prove they were raped. A woman would have to report her rape (and the rapist, if known) to proper authorities in order to receive additional assistance.

In short, the bill implies that survivors of rape are guilty until proven innocent — more likely to “cry rape” to get some extra money than to actually be raped, even though false rape allegations are extremely rare but hundreds of thousands of women are sexually assaulted per year. That’s not the way our legal system — or welfare system — is supposed to work. [Jezebel]