A certain contingent of the Republican right wing, given voice by Senator Todd Akin yesterday, believes that if a women has suffered "legitimate rape" her body will shut down and not get pregnant? And if she does get pregnant, then it means she wasn't legitimately raped, that she actually participated, even if she didn't consciously know it? And since she contributed to the act by getting pregnant, by allowing the rapist's sperm to live long enough to meet her egg and fertilize it, then she does not deserve any further consideration from our government or the medical establishment, certainly not the option of ending the forced pregnancy?
These men really do believe this. They call it science.
And by the way, vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan isn't removed from this camp. He cosponsored a bill with Mr. Legitimate Rape which endeavored to distinguish between "forcible rape" and some other kind of rape, which I can't explain because I always thought all rape was forcible.
Just one more reason why come November, my choice is clear. Obama is my president.
* Segment title on The Rachel Maddow Show last night.
My thoughts exactly....I love you.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo.
It reminds me of the Salem witch trials. If the woman dies she was innocent but if she somehow manages to live through the drowning or whatever torture they devised she is guilty and must be killed. You can't win! It boggles the mind to think there are folks who seem to truly believe this BS. I can't wrap my mind around it but I can choose not to support them. In November my choice it clear too. Obama is my president.
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ReplyDeleteThis is terrifying. Simply terrifying. And what's even more terrifying is that people VOTE for these people!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone agrees that Todd Akin is an idiot.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the "other" kind of rape is Statutory Rape in which, for example, there was an 18 year old boy having sex with a 16 year old girl. Although the girl was agreeing to it, she was a minor and therefore, not legally allowed to do so.
m.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/todd-akin-rape_b_1812930.html
ReplyDeletePS - an exceptional open letter from Eve Ensler
I am so with you, babe. I love that man.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure he actually thought that much; you give him too much credit in a way. I think what he was trying to say was that there's no real need for abortion because if it's a legitimate rape (as opposed to a "pretend" rape) women don't get pregnant. I honestly don't think he even thought deeply enough to get to the logical conclusion which is what you stated.
ReplyDeleteAnd today we have Huckabee almost coming to his rescue saying that "good people" have come out of forcible rape. Dear god.
And can we please remind everyone that "forcible" when coupled with "rape" is redundant. If it's consensual, it's sex and when it's not, it's rape. (Unless they're underage and then it's statutory, but I don't think that's what they mean.)
Well said. I'm horrified to know what goes on in Akin's head. Just horrified. Thank god for Obama.
ReplyDeletewow i love that pic!!!!
ReplyDeleteand yes. todd akin is a moron.
i just made this picture my wallpaper!!! thank you!!!
ReplyDeletePerfectly stated!
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of weird "science" (I use the term loosely and ironically) circulating among the far right, and even the not-so-far right. Akin's belief that doctors somehow back up his bizarre notions is what blows my mind. It's like the "scientists" who say there's no evidence for climate change, or that HIV doesn't cause AIDS, or that gay people can be cured. Where do these people come from?!
ReplyDeleteI also saw that Rachel Maddow show and we had a good laugh about that title.
we live in a nation of deliberately ignorant people, and where education is seen as high-falutin'. and by deliberately, i mean that education is not a priority on a broad strategic level, nor on a day-to-day level. i find it increasingly disturbing that there appears to be no factual information anymore--everything is subjective, there is no objective truth--ie, science.
ReplyDeletethis latest right-wing debacle comes as no surprise, and in fact is completely in line with the conservative platform.
obama is an intelligent , ambitious, principled man who is trying to swim against the current. i refuse to believe his efforts are doomed (although the past 4 years has certainly made it clear how much all of us underestimated the difficulty of doing the right thing.) there is no choice for 2012. we have to get out and vote for obama. anything else is certain disaster on a scale that i can't even imagine.
For his respect for women, our rights, our privacy, this alone is reason enough to vote for him, but there are so many other reasons.
ReplyDeleteI watched Anderson Cooper take this mess on last night. Seems there is an 87 year old MD, John Wilke, not an OB Gyn, but a professional pro-lifer, who has written actual words to support this ridiculous theory, even though more than 30,000 pregnancies a year are attributable to rape. He needs his license suspended pronto. Have you seen a single mouthpiece talk about the need to prevent rape in the first place? Or allow the morning after pill for rape victims? Or to provide services to the children that women decide to keep? I read today that almost a third of impregnated rape victims have the child, and one, now a lawyer, has been fighting in court to prevent her rapist from gaining child support. Absurd!
Is this a world gone mad? I thought more women would be pissed, but Anderson had a perky, young, bitchy blonde on last night, Kellyanne Conway, who was rambling on about the Guttmacher report, which she claimed, incorrectly, indicated that sex selection abortions are commonplace in the US. Hogwash, out of the mouth of a woman. But she was not appalled or outraged at the Akins drama, just itching to push the pro-life agenda. I am so very very confused and disappointed that we're dealing with any of this backwards thinking and that women are rising up with pitchforks or spatulas or brooms or whatever is handy.
I also saw a report that Obama's war chest is smaller this year because some big hitters donated lots of money and didn't get a personal thank you or acknowledgement. They were willing to be supportive as long as it came with a suck up? I agree it would be nice to be thanked, but that poor man has been mighty busy fighting ignorance and near economic collapse, which I love to point out was not his fault, at all.
Thank you for the awesome post, the great picture and allowing the likes of me to vent her spleen on your comments. It's going to be another tough election. We've got Texans talking about preparing their National Guard to defend against Obama's invasion if he wins. I keep wishing for a treason conviction. I really do.
xxoo to you and your beacon of hope, wisdom and love.