Legislature puts “Legitimate Rape” to bed for good

You may remember last year when Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin, in response to a question on a woman’s right to choose, said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Those words far outlived his failed candidacy.

Until this legislative session, Washington, a state that is usually ahead of the curve on social issues, (we gave women the right to vote before we were even a state) was one of only 17 states that still used marriage as a defense for rape.

This year Washington reaffirmed the nationwide response to Akins’s horrible quotation – there is no such thing as “legitimate rape.”

HB 1108, sponsored by Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, removes the “spousal defense” from a charge of rape in the 3rd degree in our statutes.

The bill passed the House and Senate on virtually unanimous support. Only one representative voted against the bill.

In a country where every year, one out of five women are victims of sexual assault it is important we do all we can to help those victims get justice.

This week, when Gov. Inslee signed HB 1108 into law our state took a major step forward in respecting and protecting the rights Washington’s women.