No lie, he really and truly said that. There are no words for how disgusting this is. He’s the Republican Senate candidate running against Claire McCaskill in Missouri. She was appalled, too.
Via RhRealityCheck:
Today’s case in point is provided by Missouri Tea Party Senate Candidate Todd Akin, a former board member of Missouri Right to Life, who has come up with a whole new angle on why rape is not really a legitimate reason to allow an abortion (in his eyes, of course).
This morning, Akin told the anchor of the Jaco Report that, from what he “understands from doctors” (which doctors, he does not say), that assuming we are talking about “cases of legitimate rape” the “female body has a way of shutting that down” (i.e. preventing pregnancy).
So ladies, according to Mr. Akin, if you are raped, you not only have to prove to Mr. Akin that your rape was “legitimate,” you also are at fault for allowing yourself to become pregnant.
It’s just that simple.
Akin wasn’t sure whether or not pregnancies as a result of rapes were all that common, so here are the facts:
Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency. It is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies and is closely linked with family and domestic violence. As we address the epidemic of unintended pregnancies in the United States, greater attention and effort should be aimed at preventing and identifying unwanted pregnancies that result from sexual victimization.
Senator McCaskill was as appalled as one might expect:
As a woman & former prosecutor who handled 100s of rape cases,I’m stunned by Rep Akin’s comments about victims this AM bit.ly/NahiHz
Akin didn’t stop there, though. He thinks if a woman is lucky enough to get pregnant from a rape, well…here. Just read it for yourself:
Akin added: “But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
Notice how the vessel, the woman, is not even considered. It is about the rapist and about the fruit of the rapists’ rape. The woman, to Rep. Akin, is simply the vessel to carry the fruit of the rape, assuming that she didn’t actually manage to will it away by some magical biothought process unknown to most of us. She is insignificant, matters not. Only the fruit and the perpetrator.
Now here’s what’s astounding. Todd Akin, just last week, said the federal school lunch program should be ended. Something about states’ rights. So what are we to think of someone who aspires to the US Senate who doesn’t want to “attack the child” but has no problem starving that same child to death after it’s born?
Will someone please explain to me why this prime male example of insanity is leading Senator McCaskill by over 8 points in current polls?
In this election season, Republicans are determined to toss as much crazy our way as possible. It’s a Soviet-style carpetbombing strategy in order to mess with our minds. Todd Akin is the poster boy for it.
Update: This may be the theory he’s trying to express. ::FACEPALM:: From 1988:
The odds that a woman who is raped will get pregnant are “one in millions and millions and millions,” said state Rep. Stephen Freind, R-Delaware County, the Legislature’s leading abortion foe.
The reason, Freind said, is that the traumatic experience of rape causes a woman to “secrete a certain secretion” that tends to kill sperm.
Two Philadelphia doctors specializing in human reproduction characterized Freind’s contention as scientifically baseless.
Freind made the statement on a central Pennsylvania radio interview program earlier this month.
[h/t AngryBlackLady]
