Following President Trump\u2019s\naddress to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last weekend, members\nof the press and social media activists pounced on the president\u2019s assertion\nthat migrant mothers are giving birth control to their daughters with the\nknowledge it is likely they might be raped or assaulted on the journey to the\nU.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMothers who love their\ndaughters give them massive amounts of birth control pills, because they know\ntheir daughters are going to be raped on the way up to our southern border.\nThink of that. True story told to me by the Border Patrol. Think of how evil\nthat is,\u201d Trump said in recounting stories told by Border Patrol agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not the first occasion\nhe has spotlighted the tragic and all-too-common abuses. He made similar remarks<\/a>\non January 19 concerning the humanitarian crises on the border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PBS Yamiche Alcindor questioned<\/a> the truthfulness of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPresident Trump is now\nsaying many immigrant mothers give their daughters birth control pills for the\njourney to America because they know might be raped. Fact check anyone? We need\none,\u201d demanded their White House correspondent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar scoffing and skepticism met President Trump\u2019s CPAC speech, as Alcindor was joined<\/a> by a host<\/a> of equally aghast pundits<\/a>. Fact check? Well, perhaps Alcindor can start with her own network which, in 2014, reported<\/a> that pharmacies in smuggling towns see young girls buying birth control, even at the suggestion of their smugglers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They might even have Googled the remarks made by Jeh Johnson, President Obama\u2019s Homeland Security Secretary, when he testified before Congress that same year. \u201cWe\u2019ve heard about how before they leave Central America, some of these kids\u2019 parents actually will give them birth control in case they\u2019re raped along the way,\u201d Johnson told<\/a> the Senate Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reuters interviewed<\/a> human rights activists in 2016 who told them of women taking birth control before leaving their homes. Those stories are one reason why it is government policy all female migrants\u00a0over the age of 10 are given pregnancy tests<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chris Cabrera, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent and spokesperson for the National Border Patrol Council told CNN<\/a> last spring that agents had seen 12-year old girls who were put on birth control because \u201cthey know getting violated\u201d is a fact of the journey\u201d to the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you see a 12-year-old\ngirl with a Plan B pill or her parents put her on birth control because they\nknow getting violated is part of the journey, that\u2019s a terrible way to live,\u201d\nCabrera said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just one day after the tragic reality of rape and assault of migrant girls was retold, The New York Times<\/a> published yet another strikingly detailed account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The media may continue to\nplay dumb about the realities of the border, but they should realize that their\nignorance will not protect a single woman or child from being raped and abused\non a perilous journey north.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following President Trump\u2019s address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last weekend, members of the press and social media activists pounced on the president\u2019s assertion that migrant mothers are giving birth control to their daughters with the knowledge it is likely they might be raped or assaulted on the journey to the U.S. \u201cMothers<\/p>\n