Todd Akin said something dumb. He essentially said that not a lot of women get pregnant via rape which is perfectly true. And I think he should probably drop out of the race because elections are about winning and he’s not going to win and he could make it difficult for Republicans to win the Senate.
But to be fair, to listen to Democrats you’d think every third pregnancy was via rape or incest. So this is being treated as a scandal. A big one.
While I think he should get out of this race I think it’s reasonable to consider what this scandal is about. Don’t you think this scandal has a lot more to do with Akin’s actual position that abortion should be illegal in all cases rather than his poor choice of words?
And don’t you think that all those Democrats that support legal abortion up until the moment of birth is a heckuva bigger scandal than what Akin said?
August 21, 2012 at 1:53 am
This movie clip seems appropriate today…
August 21, 2012 at 1:53 am
The Pro-life pamphlet "Sharing the Pro-Life Message" explained that incest is only .03% of reasons for abortion. Rape is .3%. Protection of a mothers's life is .2%. They don't even add up to 1% of the reasons for abortion, but they are often cited as the reasons it is important that abortion stay safe, legal, and soon, free. Yes he made a politically ill-worded response, but he was actually correct on the facts. But you know, a-ok for Biden to tell Black people that the Republicans are "Gonna put ya'all back in chains."
There are also many victims of rape and incest who regret having had the abortion, regretted that the loved ones around them made that seem like the only decision. There are those who testify that they do not recommend that course of action to others in their position.
Maybe a better answer would be for him to acknowledge he never has been in that position himself, and his daughter and wife never have before either, but their opinion is, and he would support them to do what Sarah Palin said when asked in a local campaign, "I would choose life". It is important for him or any prolife candidate to make clear that they would never blame the victims, who have been tramatized in ways he sympathizes with, but cannot authenitically empathize with unless he or someone he deeply loved had suffered similarly. His heart tells him how horrible it is, but even then it can't express what they are feeling and thinking.
August 21, 2012 at 1:53 am
As long as Democratic leaders consider any child unadoptable (a sickening myth)and consider the world to be in overpopulation crisis (which it keeps coming down to for the majority of them I've argued with — not about women at all) and consider parenting degrading (due to the embarrassment of having contributed to overpopulation), we can forget about rational discussion with them on the topic of rape-induced pregnancy. The concept that a victim would end up "forced to raise" a child who is a "living reminder" of a trauma — even if it happens only once in all time — horrifies them much more than killing children does. So we have to address their fear of overpopulation and prove to them that all children are wanted, somewhere. The rest is distraction. It's sad.
August 21, 2012 at 2:08 am
I've been really trying to figure out what in the fudgesicle he was talking about when he said that our uterus basically shuts down during rape. This is all I can think of….my husband and I practice Natural Family Planning and I've done quite a bit of research on the female reproductive system as well as many hormonal contraceptives. Sometimes when a woman is going through a great deal of stress, it can suspend ovulation. It's part of the body's defense mechanism and the body realizes that reproduction could be harmful to the woman (yes, our bodies are that amazingly smart). This is why some women skip their menstrual cycle during times of emotional stress and think they're pregnant…sometimes adding to the stress. The body recognizes the heightened level of cortisol and norepinephrine and the egg either suspends the ripening process or doesn't release into the fallopian tube until the presence of serotonin. Could the stress from a rape keep a woman from ovulatiing "on time"? Sure, but so could mid-terms or a visit from the in-laws. EVEN IF this is what he was TRYING to say…FAIL. Lost in translation/idiotic. I agree that a rape does not jusitfy a murder. Please don't say, "Well if it were you…". I am the victim of 2 sexual assualts and I stand by my beliefs. Why assualt a woman a 2nd time and add even more pain and suffering. That child is made in the image of God, regardless of how it was conceived.
August 21, 2012 at 2:28 am
Thank you, Virtuous Wife. Of course stress reduces female fertility, but not on a dime — it takes months. Obviously the real point is that the perpetrator deserves punishment, not the child — we all know that — but to people who a) cannot emotionally allow themselves to hear that abortion is a trauma, b)cannot emotionally allow themselves to see that the baby already exists, and c) think that there are "too many babies already", I don't know how to get through. People like that are imagining us telling them we're "punishing women with babies." Does anyone here have any success communicating with them?
August 21, 2012 at 3:34 am
I was getting ready to get behind his campaign here in MO. Now what? He should not be forced out by a left wing media that intentionally distorts what was said. Sad.
August 21, 2012 at 5:44 am
Dear Virtuous Wife,
First sad to hear that you were the victim of sexual abuse. Second, great comment. When I wrote mine earlier it was after failed attempts to find what he had actually said. I finally found it 4 hours later! Thank you for explaining how stress does play a role. We practice NFP as well and our first child was conceived after a delayed by stress ovulation. Agree with you and arainyview, child is of infinite value, having been endowed with an immortal soul by the creator, and with a divine mission as well. Making the child a victim of abortion does not help to heal the woman. Some rape and incest victims testify that the abortion advocated by family and friends exacerbates their trauma.
August 21, 2012 at 1:50 pm
I knew I could count on the Archbolds to defend Akin. I mean, he is a Republican.
August 22, 2012 at 12:30 am
I reacted negatively to the idea that "legitimate rape" seldom results in pregnancy. I completely agree that when it does the baby should not be punished as if he or she were responsible. But his remarks imply that someone who is pregnant probably wasn't "legitimately" a rape victim, which I do find abhorrent.
FYI, I voted for Akin in the primary, and if he's still the candidate in November I will vote for him instead of McCaskill, whose policies are much more abhorrent. But I won't be happy about having to make that choice.