Missouri Republican: "Legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy

**brandon184** · August 19th, 2012, 07:12 PM

You can't make this stuff up, folks!

Missouri Republican claims ‘legitimate rape’ rarely results in pregnancy – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Rep. Todd Akin, who won Missouri's GOP Senate primary earlier this month and will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in November's general election, said Sunday that he misspoke when he claimed "legitimate rape" rarely resulted in pregnancy.

Answering a question about whether or not he thought abortion should be legal in the case of rape, Akin explained his opposition by citing unnamed medical mechanisms he said prevented pregnancy.

"First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said of rape-induced pregnancy in an interview with KTVI. A clip of the interview was posted online by the liberal super PAC American Bridge.

"If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin continued. He did not provide an explanation for what constituted "legitimate rape."

He added: "But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. You know I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."

**mad1** · August 19th, 2012, 07:40 PM

The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45);

Rape-related pregnancy: estimates and de... [Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1996] - PubMed - NCBI

**brandon184** · August 19th, 2012, 08:34 PM

Are you implying that the rate you found is lower or higher than the pregnancy rate when the sex is consensual?

5.0% means a lot of babies being born. Sounds like it debunks what this fellow said, don't you think?

**Gomer** · August 19th, 2012, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by brandon184

Are you implying that the rate you found is lower or higher than the pregnancy rate when the sex is consensual?

5.0% means a lot of babies being born. Sounds like it debunks what this fellow said, don't you think?

From Vern's link:

RESULTS:

The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. Among 34 cases of rape-related pregnancy, the majority occurred among adolescents and resulted from assault by a known, often related perpetrator. Only 11.7% of these victims received immediate medical attention after the assault, and 47.1% received no medical attention related to the rape. A total 32.4% of these victims did not discover they were pregnant until they had already entered the second trimester; 32.2% opted to keep the infant whereas 50% underwent abortion and 5.9% placed the infant for adoption; an additional 11.8% had spontaneous abortion.
CONCLUSIONS:

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.

**tony_j15** · August 19th, 2012, 09:23 PM

Some days I hate my state. Oh wait, that's just about every day.

**Epidemic** · August 20th, 2012, 09:27 AM

This guy opened mouth and inserted foot pretty good. I bet he wished he could go back in time and smack himself in the back of the head.

**KarmaKiller** · August 20th, 2012, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by tony_j15

Some days I hate my state. Oh wait, that's just about every day.

Same thought. Why is it always Missouri....

**pickel** · August 20th, 2012, 06:29 PM

Ten minutes in a phone booth with this lowlife P O S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This HAS to be the ultimate insult to women. And this is RYAN's position, also. Him (Ryan) and this Twit came up with this "Legitimate Rape" Bullshit.

The GOP has hit a new low. Worse then Alpha Delta Phi in Animal House !!!!

Maybe five minutes would due.

**Gomer** · August 20th, 2012, 06:33 PM

Originally Posted by KarmaKiller

Same thought. Why is it always Missouri....

If Detroit is the armpit of America, Missouri is the taint.

**pickel** · August 20th, 2012, 06:47 PM

Romney: Akin's rape comments are 'inexcusable'

Romney: Akin's rape comments are 'inexcusable'

**Theophylact** · August 20th, 2012, 06:51 PM

There's never been any evidence for this "belief", but it's a damned convenient one if you oppose abortion. If "legitimate" or "forcible" rape doesn't result in pregnancy, then any woman who becomes pregnant as a result of "rape" isn't eligible for the "rape exception to the 'no abortion' " rule. QED.

Oh, and "statutory rape" isn't real rape, so 13-year-olds have to have the baby, the sluts.

**pickel** · August 20th, 2012, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Theophylact

There's never been any evidence for this "belief", but it's a damned convenient one if you oppose abortion. If "legitimate" or "forcible" rape doesn't result in pregnancy, then any woman who becomes pregnant as a result of "rape" isn't eligible for the "rape exception to the 'no abortion' " rule. QED.

Oh, and "statutory rape" isn't real rape, so 13-year-olds have to have the baby, the sluts.

Especially ifin the Father was the one who inseminated the child. !!!

It's sad the days of the Firing Squad have passed.....

**Gomer** · August 21st, 2012, 12:24 AM

Now pregnancy as the result of forcible rape is God's blessing????

While Republicans at the national level were in a hurry to shove him aside, Republican opinion had not hardened against Mr. Akin in Missouri, in part because of the salience of the abortion issue. “The congressman is totally, firmly, solidly pro-life,” Sharon Barnes, a member of the state Republican central committee, said, adding that Mr. Akin believed “that abortion is never an option.”

Ms. Barnes echoed Mr. Akin’s statement that very few rapes resulted in pregnancy, adding that “at that point, if God has chosen to bless this person with a life, you don’t kill it.”

“That’s more what I believe he was trying to state,” she said. “He just phrased it badly.”

**tony_j15** · August 21st, 2012, 09:43 AM

Well, it's a perfect analogy for religion dontcha think? Bad things will happen and you must accept whatever The Powerful force on you. Lie still and try not to squirm.

**brandon184** · August 21st, 2012, 11:19 AM

Wake Up, It's Not Just Akin

**Theophylact** · August 21st, 2012, 11:38 AM

From The Onion, America's Finest News Source™:

Pregnant Woman Relieved To Learn Her Rape Was Illegitimate

LITCHFIELD, CT—Though she was initially upset following the brutal sexual assault last month that left her pregnant, victim Martha Byars told reporters she was relieved Sunday to learn from Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) that her ability to conceive her unwanted child proves she was not, in fact, legitimately raped.

“Being violently coerced into having sex was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, so I take comfort in knowing it wasn’t actually rape,” Byars said of the vicious encounter in which she was accosted in an alleyway by a stranger, pinned to the ground, and penetrated against her will for 25 minutes. “It was absolutely horrific—I felt violated in the worst way imaginable—but thanks to Congressman Akin, I now realize it must, at some level, have been consensual after all.”

“Thank God for that,” Byars added. “I’m so relieved to know that my child’s father, the man who muffled my screams as he forcefully penetrated me over and over and left me hemorrhaging to death on the street, is not a rapist.”

Explaining that the Republican senatorial candidate’s statements had “really opened her eyes” by helping her understand the workings of her own reproductive system, Byars said she only wishes she could have known at the time of her near-fatal assault that the female body has ways to shut down conception during cases of tried-and-true rape.

“Now that I know the truth, I realize none of the telltale signs of legitimate rape were there at all,” mused Byers, noting that her body did not in any way shut down but in fact continued to register excruciating pain throughout the entire cruel ordeal. “I must have at least subconsciously wanted it—otherwise, the sperm wouldn’t have been able to enter my body.”

“Not only is this knowledge a blessing for me,” she continued, “but it will no doubt bring great hope to the tens of thousands of women who are forcibly and savagely impregnated in the United States every year.”

**Epidemic** · August 21st, 2012, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by pickel

Ten minutes in a phone booth with this lowlife P O S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You seem to have a real problem with freedom of speech at times. I believe you have said or implied on a couple of occasions you would beat people up for saying things.

This guy is an ass and hopefully he will see the results of such on election day. I feel sorry for the republicans in the district for their apparent mistaken choice but, he has every right to be wrong

Besides did you miss the correction he made (it should fix everything

)

He said he mispoke that he did not mean legitimate rape but rather forceable rape. (that makes it all better)

The fact that there is little evidence to support the idea that rape victims are unlikely to become pregnant is not such a horrible thing. It probably is not a great political move to promote such an idea but it is really not important in a way.

the rightness or wrongness of the theory he is promoting is irrelevant to his point.

He believes or at least claims to believe Baby humans deserve rights

I disagree buttttttt that was his real point not the statistical nature of rape versus conception.

He believes, as do many, that the resultant life from the rape is not guilty of anything. So it is the rights of the mother human vs the rights of the child human. In his book they are equal. Whether it be a zygot or 1 year old baby there is no differents both are human.

Would you let the woman who gave birth to the product of rape, later in a fit of anger kill her 1 year old?

I disagree with the value of a pre-term baby from him, but there are so many folks out there who believe conception to be the point where you are a human deserving of rights. In the end it is absolutely just a differents of opinion not facts.

**Theophylact** · August 21st, 2012, 03:03 PM

In a sense (except for his wildly mistaken notion of gynecology) he's only being consistent, because the rape-and-incest exception for abortion totally destroys the argument against abortion: If it's murder to kill a fetus, it's still murder when the fetus results from rape or incest. And if it is murder, then the person soliciting an abortion is just as gullty of murder as the doctor who performs it. Unless you're willing to prosecute women who have abortions, fuhgeddaboudit.

The fact that these special concessions exist -- that these really are sticking-points for practically everyone -- reveals just how flawed the case is for banning abortion.

**Epidemic** · August 21st, 2012, 03:54 PM

I never thought about that. People who are ok with abortion in the case of incest and rape basically negate the states obligation to make it illegal.

It is either a human or it is not a human.

If you contend it is ok to kill a baby because the daddy is an criminal, then when it comes to a womans right to choose, whether it be for birth control reasons or because of rape it is her right to decide.

**Theophylact** · August 21st, 2012, 04:47 PM

Akin isn't the only Replicant Congressman to be an idiot on this subject:

Rep. Steve King, one of the most staunchly conservative members of the House, was one of the few Republicans who did not strongly condemn Rep. Todd Akin Monday for his remarks regarding pregnancy and rape. King also signaled why — he might agree with parts of Akin’s assertion.

King told an Iowa reporter he’s never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest.

“Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way,” King told KMEG-TV Monday, “and I’d be open to discussion about that subject matter.”

A Democratic source flagged King’s praise of Akin in the KMEG interview to TPM. But potentially more controversial for King is his suggestion that pregnancies from statutory rape or incest don’t exist or happen rarely. A 1996 review by the Guttmacher Institute found “at least half of all babies born to minor women are fathered by adult men.”

Contacted by TPM, King’s office said that King didn’t mean he had never heard of pregnancy resulting from statutory rape or incest but that he had no direct, personal knowledge of such instances. “What he was saying was, he personally does not know a girl who was raped,” Brittany Lesser, a spokesperson for King said. “He never says, ‘I’ve never heard of that.’ There’s a fine line between ‘I’ve never heard of that’ and ‘I don’t know personally anybody who’s been raped. There’s a difference. There is a difference.”

Actually, he may well know a girl or woman who was raped. But if they had a brain in their head they wouldn't have told him.