Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) made an incredibly stupid statement on Sunday about abortion and rape when he discussed “legitimate rapes” and discussing how conception rarely happens during a rape (no evidence of that). He appeared insensitive, and that is something that Republicans can ill afford.
Since then his opponent in the Missouri Senate Race, incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill, has taken the opportunity to deflect from her atrocious record on abortion. Susan B. Anthony List President, Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement released yesterday accused McCaskill of hiding behind a smokescreen:
Abortion supporters like Sen. Claire McCaskill are trying to use this issue as a smokescreen to hide from their radical, pro-abortion records that are out of step with the majority of Missourians and the American people. On the issues of taxpayer funding of elective abortion in Obamacare, protection of unborn girls being targeted in the womb solely because of their gender, and whether children capable of feeling pain in the womb should be protected, President Obama and Senator McCaskill have been on the wrong side, showing that they favor abortion on-demand, for any reason, up to the moment of birth, subsidized by the taxpayers.
If President Obama and Senator McCaskill care to focus on extreme positions, it is time for self reflection. It is time to answer the question why this president has recently rejected bans on gender selection and late term abortions.
She said on the other hand Akin has been a strong defender of the unborn. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council also came to his aid. Akin’s allies, however, are dwindling as the NRSC is pulling its funding and American Crossroads PAC are pulling out of the state. Several Republicans are calling for him to step down. He was blasted by Mitt Romney yesterday as well:
Congressman’s Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong. Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive.
What I would like to know is exactly what in Akin’s comments do Mitt Romney see as “insulting, inexcusable and frankly wrong.” If he meant when Akin said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” I’d agree
However if it was when Akin said, “that the punishment should be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” Then I’d disagree. According to Romney’s press secretary, Andrea Saul, he disagreed with everything, “Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”
They may find themselves in disagreement with the GOP platform as well as they are prepared to add official support for the Human Life Amendment that doesn’t make exceptions for rape or incest. The draft reads:
Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.
Prolife Michigan attorney Rebecca Kiessling brings a unique perspective to this debate. She was conceived during rape:
Rape exceptions in the law actually put the government in the position of having to ascertain when the child was conceived, who the father is, whether the child was conceived during the alleged rape or during intercourse with her husband or boyfriend, and if the child was conceived during the time frame of the alleged rape, then the government would need to determine whether the sexual intercourse was consensual or not. So rape exceptions serve to perpetuate the injustice against rape victims that their accounts are to be viewed with skepticism, and it further leaves the majority of impregnated rape victims wholly unprotected under the law. Rape exceptions suggest that a “real rape victim” couldn’t possibly love “the rapist’s baby” and that rape victim mothers don’t exist.
Iowa Republican National Committeewoman-Elect, Tamara Scott, spoke on this issue during the SBA List’s “Women Speak Out” tour in Des Moines, IA. She asked can you tell the difference between a baby conceived in rape and a baby conceived in love?
Kiessling also said the problem isn’t with the position of politician like Akin, but rather on how they express those beliefs. I agree. Should Congressman Akin step down today it should be due to his blunder, not his belief protecting the unborn – even those conceived by rape and incest.
