Jen Psaki has responded to Texas Governor Greg Abbott's recent comments about "eliminating" rape in the southern state.
This comes after Texas introduced a new law - known as Senate Bill 8 - that bans abortion providers from carrying out terminations after the fetus' heartbeat had been detected.
Per CNN, this is usually around the six-week mark - a time when many women are unaware that they are pregnant.
On Tuesday, Abbott was asked by a reporter: "Why force a rape or incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term?"
Abbott responded by saying: "It doesn't require that at all, because, obviously, it provides at least six weeks for a person to be able to get an abortion."
The Governor then spoke about his goals to "eliminate" rape, telling reporters: "That said, however, let's make something very clear; rape is a crime. And Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.
"So goal number one in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person, will be a victim of rape."
On Wednesday, September 8, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked for the White House's response to Abbott's comments, to which she said: "If Governor Abbott has a means of eliminating all rapists or all rape from the United States then there’d be bipartisan support for that."
However, the 42-year-old went on to add:
"But given there has never in the history of the country - in the world - been any leader who's even been able to eliminate rape, eliminate rapists from our streets, it's even more imperative - it's one of the many reasons I should say, not the only reason - why women in Texas have access to healthcare."
Psaki added: "The President has made clear that it is a priority to do everything we can to ensure women in Texas have access to healthcare."
When asked what she would say to women in Texas who are currently in need of an abortion, Psaki said that their rights have been "violated", adding: "And we are going to do everything we can to provide assistance as quickly as we can."
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the representative for New York's 14th congressional district, has also responded to Abbott's comments, describing them as "disgusting" and "deeply ignorant".
Check out AOC's response in the video below:After giving Abbott a lesson in "biology 101", the 31-year-old said: "The majority of people who are raped and who are sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone that they know," she said.
"These aren’t just predators that are walking around the streets at night. They are people's uncles. They are teachers. They are family friends."
AOC highlighted how some victims don't want to bring their cases "into the carceral system" and that some people "don't want to retraumatize themselves by going to court".