The Alaska House is considering whether to pass a measure declaring April 2018 Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which seems like a no-brainer — except for the fact that a conservative lawmaker has tacked on an amendment to the measure calling abortion "child abuse."

It all began when the Alaska State House Rules Committee took a look at the resolution last week, after the Alaska Senate had already passed it. The committee's chair, State Representative Gabrielle LeDoux (R-Anchorage), decided the resolution would be stronger if it included language about child abuse prevention and declared April 2018 Child Abuse Prevention Month.

So far, so good.

But then on Monday, State Representative David Eastman, a Republican representing Wasila — Sarah Palin's former hometown — introduced a provision stating that "taking the life of an innocent preborn child through abortion is the ultimate form of child abuse."

Eastman told local CBS affiliate KTVA that there is a "direct connection between sexual assault and child abuse" and that it's "important to talk about the fact that we are dealing with child abuse, and certainly without mentioning abortion, we would not be doing justice to child abuse."

LeDoux and other Republicans back the revised amendment, turning a resolution meant to show support for survivors of sexual violence into a backdoor attack on reproductive rights. A resolution declaring April Sexual Assault Awareness Month has been introduced in Alaska every year since 2001, and this is the first time it hasn't received unanimous support from the Alaska State House. It's unclear whether it will pass.

"Abortion is a very serious issue, and it needs to be talked about," Eastman told the Associated Press. "We have folks who try to get pregnant in this state so that they can get a free trip to the city, and we have folks who want to carry their baby past the point of being able to have an abortion in this state so that they can have a free trip to Seattle."

Eastman is referring to the fact that Medicaid can cover travel to Washington state for women in Alaska who need second-trimester abortions, since in Alaska, outpatient abortion performed after the first trimester is illegal. (As for Eastman's unsupported claim that women get pregnant so they can travel for free, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands spokesperson Katie Rogers called it “ludicrous and despicable.")

In November of 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), and Planned Parenthood jointly filed a suit against Alaska, saying the ban on abortion after the first trimester poses a significant burden on Alaskans in need of abortion care because of the state's geographical limitations. By calling abortion "child abuse," Eastman and fellow Republicans push the idea that a fertilized egg has the same rights as person, further politicizing a safe and legal form of health care in a state where it's already too difficult to get.

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