Abbott's statement isn't bizarre. It might have been odd if offered as a stand alone answer to the question, but as the video shows that's not what's happened.
The Governor asserts that the law does not require sexual assault victims to carry pregnancies to term because reasons. That makes a complete answer to the question as posed.
He then moves on to a tangential "tough on crime" statement because the succinctness of the previous answer affords him the time to do so and because that sentiment plays well, especially in Texas.
It's disingenuous to take the second statement as a direct response to the question because that question's premise had, at least in the speaker's view, been refuted.
RE: Odds and Ends — 8 September 2021