E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
A Georgia Republican congressman said that former Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, R, was "partly right" in asserting that victims of "legitimate rape" rarely become pregnant.
Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., a former obstetrician-gynecologist, said at a town hall meeting that Akin was “partly right” in his controversial suggestion, which was widely cited as a factor in his loss to Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, D, this past November.
Gingrey said, according to the Marietta Daily Journal:
“And in Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that.”
[...]
“And I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.’ So he was partially right wasn’t he? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman’s body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak. And yet the media took that and tore it apart.”
Akin originally told KTVI-TV in August: “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Republicans quickly distanced themselves from Akin, urging him to end his bid for Senate to allow another GOP candidate to step forward. Mitt Romney, then the party’s presidential nominee, publicly said that Akin should end his campaign.
However, Akin, a congressman, resisted the calls for him to drop out, giving Democrats fodder to paint Republicans as out-of-touch with women voters. Another GOP Senate candidate, Indiana’s Richard Mourdock, also gave fodder to Democrats when he suggested that pregnancies by rape were “something God intended.” (Mourdock, like Akin, lost a Senate race on which Republicans had been counting to win.)
Gingrey addressed the cost of those controversies before making his own assessment of the science behind Akin’s remarks:
“Part of the reason the Dems still control the Senate is because of comments made in Missouri by Todd Akin and Indiana by Mourdock were considered a little bit over the top ... Mourdock basically said ‘Look, if there is conception in the aftermath of a rape, that’s still a child, and it’s a child of God, essentially.’ Now, in Indiana, that cost him the election.”
Leave a Comment:
Where do these doctors crawl out of the woodwork from? Who gave them their degrees? It's pretty certain from guys like this that in Georgia you don't have to be sane to be a doctor. He can tell that women very seldom get pregnant from rape because he's "delivered quite a few babies". That's like a bank teller saying she's handled a lot of deposits by people, so seldom do "legitimate robbers" actually take money from the bank. No, nothing was taken out of context by Akin. He said an idiotic thing, and he was called on it. Thank you, people of Missouri. You showed much more class than this man has.
These idiots are part of a dinosaur breed of men (an insult to dinosaurs, sorry) that live in the good old boy world. I guess we still have to wait for their extinction as time marches forward. It is crazy that we still have these kind of chauvinist remarks being made. 22 years ago I was a jury foreperson on a capital murder case of a 14 year old girl that was raped and brutally murdered. I had to have the judge order testimony reread where the killer admitted he had indeed raped her but killed her because she got mad at him (all lies). There were two male jurors who still felt even after his confession of rape that the girl was dressed provocatively (in pink and black) and on her midnight walk to her mothers home from her bus, engaged in consensual sex with the perpetrator in a rocky creek bed (she even before the rape used a pay phone to call the highway patrol for a ride because she was scared by this man following her...they cut her off..saying we are not a taxi service). She was found dead lying in the creek bed the next morning with her head smashed in with a giant piece of concrete). The evidence of the rape and murder was overwhelming yet these couple of male jurors still thought this young, innocent girl wanted sex with this stoned out freak with a sharpened screw driver! They changed their minds thankfully after the testimony was reread of his confession of rape...he was eventually convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death by our jury but still sits on death row in San Quentin. Legitimate rape is a disgusting and still legal travesty in our courts today. When will women be free from this ugly, hateful and wrong belief system on some men's parts that women "wanted it" violently and asked for it. Shameful....
Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga, You Sir are a stupid Son of a Bitch - I hope to hell the rest of your party and it's members are not as 1919 as you but it is pointing that way.
Somebody need to kick this guy in the nuts and see if his 'body shuts down'... dumba$$
The progeny of rape is "God's child"??? Is God the mother or the father in that situation? Do these idiots think it is the father and pray to rapists? If the mother is God, she certainly should have the power to determine the fate of the embryo in her own body.
Its hard to believe Rep. Phil Gingrey actually practiced medicine or has a viable medical degree. Perhaps he is suffering from dementia or alzheimer's disease. He's 70 years old and not practicing medicine any longer. There is probably a good reason for that. Why are some of these ignorant Republicans elected?
HITOBITO, not that hard to believe that he was a doctor..see, when he became a OBGYN it was a three week training course at the high-school, consisting of going to a farm and watch the animals ...uhhhh..propagate, then watch some white mice give birth, then a week of french porn pictures, so they knew what "it" looked like.
A woman had eggs in there, men had sperm, and when they got together God stirred it up into a baby.
There were no antibiotics (lots of women died from infection but that was because after hours and hours of childbirth they were too lazy to change the sheets and turn the mattress.) Most births at the time were home births and state of the art equipment was a lantern and a pair of dulled ice-tongs. See how easy it was? In later years, it got so complicated with womans' tubes and organs and chemistry and stuff, but he's a retired doctor who doesn't need to know all that, but still gets to call himself doctor.
Can't believe how stupid some of these GOP'ers are. You'd think that once they got burned they would learn to keep their mouth shut, but NO, they have to step into again.
Whether pregnancy by rape is rare or not is NOT the point. The fact that the GOP would FORCE a woman who becomes pregnant by rape or incest to carry the fetus to term regardless of her own wishes IS the point....and totally unacceptable.
When is the GOP going to get this.... there is NO Part of legitimate rape that is right. Jeez... People wonder why I won't vote Republican, well there ya go.
How pathetic.
When are you guys going to leave well enough alone and stfu.
Dumb! How the blazes did this guy ever get his M.D.? Payola?
Even dumber -- anyone who would believe what he said. Scientific it ain't.
Does this dodo realize that his "medical opinion" actually supports rape and rapists? Whether he realizes it or not? Think about it!
Move to India, they will embrace your retarded thinking because well they are retarded too.
It's morons like these that are killing the GOP.
One more GOP pol to throw in the trash heap! The flies and maggots are getting bad, anybody know when trash day at the Capitol is?
First off, I like the people that comment against the doctor who seem to have medical degrees of their own.
A question I would liket o pose is; isn't there the morning after pill available? Isn't that supposed to prevent pregnancy for those who interacted without protection and wnated to be sure they didn't get pregnant? In my opinion, if someone gets raped, they would be reporting it to the authorities. They get medical attention and have the option of getting this pill.
Any intelligent thoughts?
Sorry, it doesn't fit the agenda. Prepare for the onslaught of insults and name-calling from the libtard sheep.
Beside the point. It was a stupid statement and only goes to enforce the impression Akin and Mourdock gave that the GOP is more interested in forcing the woman to be an incubator than in allowing her any choice in the matter.
"isn't there the morning after pill available?"
Not if these people can stop it.
Pro-life conservatives consider the "Morning After Pill" the same as an abortion!
Paul Ryan just introduced a bill that would make that pill illegal, as well as contraception and abortion even in the case of rape or the mother's health. Republicans are back to killing women, or raping them with forced ultrasounds, since they did not vote for the GOP.
Forget about the flu epidemic - we are suffering from a plague of stupidity! Oh, the humanity
...and people actually WONDER why the republican party is a disarrayed mess?
And they further the agenda by starting the title with "GOP Congressman..." If there is no agenda, why didn't they start with "Georgia doctor..." Stoopid libtard sheep will believe anything as long as it fits the agenda.
Because he is no longer a practicing physician. He is, however, a Republican Congressman, defending a former idiot Republican Congressman. I believe that has a lot of relevance.
Of course, he associated himself with Akin AFTER the election. Where was he to defend his brother-in-arms three months ago? That's right, he was hiding in the shadows covering his own arse.
My question is, why in the hell would any politician even bring this up at this point? What, in the name of all that is sane, could you possibly hope to gain? The likes of the self-destruction going on in the GOP hasn't been seen since the burning of Rome.
What these backward thinking knuckle dragging fringe right tp/god freak Republicans can't seem to understand is: rape is rape period! All rape in all forms is legitimate rape, in fact, there is absolutely no such thing as "illegitimate" rape. There have been, and unfortunately will always be, many cases of illegitimate CLAIMS of rape, done for any number of reasons and that is why all claims of rape must be completely investigate before such an accusation is made against anyone. By continuing to try to somehow legitimize the incensitive and ignorant remarks of Akin and Mourdock the GOP continues their "war against women" and their assault against a womans basic right to control their own bodies and reproductive cycle, thus continuing to prove that they are out of touch with todays society and thus are completely unfit to govern. Listen up wing-nutz, let me make this very simple for you, women are NOT: second class citizens, trophies, property, eye candy or your personal posessions. Women ARE people just as you are, they are equal to you in every way and in many cases better than you will ever be, they are your wives, sisters, life partners, and best friend. It is way past time to stop minimizing their concerns and way past time to stop treating them as if they were objects and until you neanderthals can figure this out you will remain unfit to govern and equally unfit to live in a civilized society anywhere.
Gawd, you're an idjit. Tell it to all the guys convicted of rape after being falsely accused by women who either have screws loose or didn't want to tell their families they are sluts.
catlover589: Might I suggest you stay a little further away from the catnip, litter box or whisky bottle, whichever one it is that caused you to read only part of my post and then respond in such an ignorant fashion??
I read your rant. I stand by my comment.
catlover589: If you read it as you claim then you know I allowed for the false accusations your so worried about, but, there is no such thing as "guys convicted of rape after being falsly accused" simply guys convicted of rape but unable or unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions. Denying that you raped does not mean that your innocent of rape simply because you say so. I also find your obvious lack of repect for women to be appalling, maybe you should open the windows of your double wide a little further and try to let a little fresh air in to lessen your personal stench..
Yeah, talk your way out of the non-sense. It just ain't going to work. You have crazies in the Republican party like there are crazies everywhere, I guess the Republican party just has stupid crazies and are not smart enough to know when shut up! And there is nothing worse than someone who thinks he knows the truth, but actually has no clue - something like cable's FOX News!
Awesme! Another FOX-envy loser. We know you're smart when you bring up FOX here at lib-central.. HAHAHAHA Stoopid libtard.
In response to Dave who suggested we needed a new word to use for this GOP stupidity....how about "goppidity?"
How in the "sam hill" did this physician get certified to become an OB-GYN practitioner? As they say, those who can't practice medicine become politicians. And that saying seems to fit Gingrey.
Who are they worshiping as God? If you substitute Satin in place of God their statements make sense.