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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.”
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Oh. My God! What the heck GOP'ers!!????
First rape pregnancy doesn't happen unless you secretly want it to. THEN - insult to injury - let's blame the woman who desperately WANTS to get pregnant. She must not REALLY want a baby, or maybe she doesn't really love her husband.
As someone who's dealt witht the painful trials of infertility - this is incredibly insensitive - ESPECIALLY COMING FROM A GYN/OB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are right newsgirl, I don't know why those GOPers will never learn to stop throwing facts out there. It is much more effective as the Dems have figured out to just throw shet at the wall and see what sticks.
What facts would that be?
Republican's like this make me a little less proud to be American, and disappointed at my party of choice.
These guys need to STFup in regard to abortion. Anybody who wants an abortion can go get one....it is the law. Idiots!
Two examples .My mom was raped while in political detention by a white guard. She had my sister , who i couldn't imagine living life without. Years later i dated a White woman who when previously married was raped by a Black man She had her daughter who is being raised by her ex-husband. Yet I'm pro-choice as was my mom. Its about the choice of the rape victim on whether to have the child.
As a Christian i am for life of all human beings but i don't believe that i should judge those who choose to terminate the product of rape. These GOP politicians need to follow Anne Coulter's advice and ST hell up.
Sooooo many experts on this post. I'll know where to go when I have a medical question.
Has nothing to do with a medical diagnosis. The point is that the GOP believes that they have an overwhelming right to force a victim of rape or incest who becomes pregnant to bear the fetus to term.
Ya... right... what an idiot.
Dear Rep. Gingrey,
Infertile couples often live with months or years of anxiety, which in turn may affect ovulation, by a varying amount of time. A rape situation, you fool, is a traumatic event, but if the girl or woman is ovulating at the time, the resultant anxiety will not likely effect the ovulation.
Please take some refresher courses. I have worked in fertility clinics.
Sorry, but screw the refresher course, very happy that this is a former so-called doctor. I would imagine the women in his hometown are relieved he no longer practices. Too bad he has been foisted upon the rest of us. Such damn fools. Say bye-bye to your re-election bid, dumbAss!
Because you are an MD doesn't make you a genius---for Centuries Md's were saying that there was such a thing as "racial superiority"---etc. etc.!!!----it never ends!!!
How stupid are these republicans? Who keeps electing them, obviously not any brighter. It is time for a massive overhaul of the congress.
Just remember these people come 2014 and again in 2016. We have much work to do boys and girls of ridding both the House and the Senate of these right wing nut jobs. To think that Michelle Bachmann is still on the "Intelligence" committee is an oxymoron in and of itself. Gotta RISE UP, Democrats and moderate Republicans!
That's right republicans just keep digging that hole of ignorance deeper, keep going and eventually you will end up in the place heartless idiots like you all deserve to be.
Most GOP male congressmen would be a LOT more knowledgeble if it were Male rape.What a bunch of idiots the more they try to make excuses the dumber they become.
This guy is incredibly stupid!! Not only for what he says, ...But, for even saying it at all!
What I find distressing is not just that clown's like this guy say these stupid things, but that there are people out there, some on this comment blog, who actually defend them! That is the unbelievable part, that anyone with half a brain would actually think that this twit and the other GOP bozos who have made similar comments, actually have something "legitimate" to say. Comments about "legitimate rape" and the effects on possible pregancy are beyond stupid and have no place in the 21st century. Of course, Georgia, or at least parts of it, are clearly stuck in the 17th century and so are the folks who defend this.
Dick Armey said in an interview recently that GOPers should become stealth candidates, focusing on issues and keeping their mouths shut on controversial issues until after they are elected. Guess Gingrey was not paying attention.
What does that say about the level of honesty in the GOP? But I guess after you've sold out to Grover and the Koch brothers, selling out the rest of the country comes pretty easy.....
Fools like this guy is the answer to Liberal minded prayers! The GOP / Tea Party is killing itself, ...slowly!
The Right Wing of America are rapists. There is no such thing as legitimate rape. Rape is a violation of the man or womans body to force the person to conceive children against their will so that a political and or religious beleif can then be forced on the person for fear of the person having their children taken away by the state and put into a foster home and then brainwashed to believe a religious or political message.
The Religious Right Wing are rapists.
Another area that rape is present and made legal is through the many services that are supported for families only within the Health and Family Services programs.
Today I went to the ODJFS to inquire about programs that would help me get surgery on my left knee due to an injury that occured at work. The reply that I received was that the programs only helped families, black people, those with AIDS and the elderly.
In order for me to receive treatment for my knee injury and return to work I would have to find a woman, marry her and get her pregnant in order to receive help from the program or I can file for disability through Social Securities and then use Medicaid to get my knee treated which would be a long process that is purposely dragged out in order to put pressure on single people to become married against their will and to conceive children against their will in order to receive the medical treatment.
Nothing short of rape once again.
I am also currently going through deliberation with the Industrial Complex of Ohio in regards to receiving workers compensation for the injury that occured at work and regardless of the verbal and written testimonies and what the defense attorney wants to believe the fact of the inury still relates to the injury taking place at work based upon the nature of the injury itself.
Both facilities continue to deny my claims based on incircumstantial evidence relating to the initial evaluation of my knee by a physician not trained in orthopedics instead of relying on the professional medical evidence of two other physicians both of whom have stated that the injury could not have happened any other place than on the job.
The reason that the claim is being denied is because I am a single male without any children and the religious right wing using their hidden laws are in fact trying to force upon their religious and political doctrine through denying me treatment based upon medical facts until I have a family and children that can be used against me to force me to follow the policies of the GOP the its religious base without regards to my own choice based upon Constitution of the United States of America.
In essence and nothing less than an act of rape being forced upon me in order to receive medical treatment.
Any time that a person is denied medical treatments based soley on the fact that they are not married is an act of rape.
This is why President Obama's Health Care law was attacked in the manner it was. Not because it helps but it in fact takes away the ability of the GOP to creat laws that says a person has to be married and have children in order to receive state assisted medical help where the injured would have to wait along time and possibly be out of work for a long period of time where others in the community would then pressure the single person into getting married against their will by such people calling the person lazy ect. not because of the person actually being lazy but because the Religious Right Wing wants to force the person into a situation where they have to give up their personal liberties and freedoms and become married in order to receive state assisted medical health.
The GOP and its Right Wing Church of England mentality and the oppression of the church on American citizens will end once America looks at the laws and what rape is.
Rape is not legitimate nor is rape love.
What the hell does the GOP have to do with our knee injury and why are you going to family services to get it treated? If it's a legitimate worker's comp injury then your employer's insurance must pay for it. Go back and read the story before you post this crap. Not only are you a single male with no children you're an idiot!
I love you knee jerk liberals.
It's not knee jerk at all. The problem here is simple, if you get pregnant, through whatever means, it is up to you, under US Law, to decide whether to continue or terminate the pregnancy. If you are not pregnant, you have no skin in the game, and therefor no voice. For one person or group of people to force their will, social standards, or morals on the populace is tyranny in its purest form.
It is a sad state of affairs when we have so many people in this Country, who do not posses the intelligence to analyze a particular issue and come to a logical, reasonable conclusion.
"It is a sad state of affairs when we have so many people in this Country, who do not posses the intelligence to analyze a particular issue and come to a logical, reasonable conclusion."
Your exactly right. That's why I love you knee-jerk liberals.
"For one person or group of people to force their will, social standards, or morals on the populace is tyranny in its purest form."
As long as it's a one way street right Dennis? If it's a liberal group forcing their will & social standards on society then it must be okay.
Nope, not knee-jerk at all. This archaic thinking on the right has been going on for some time now. The difference is that the New Republican Party thinks(well, not really) they can freely voice their true beliefs and that the majority of America is with them all the way. The party is shrinking and will continue to shrink. The party is becoming very irrelevant, and rightly so when you have men like this guy speaking for the party.
Is anyone forcing you to get an abortion grab?
So if you had it your way anyone with a belief different than yours wouldn't be free to voice it?
Nope. Not pregnant at the moment.
"For one person or group of people to force their will, social standards, or morals on the populace is tyranny in its purest form."
Exactly! Anyone is free to be pro-life, just don't force it on the rest of us. Anyone is free to be pro-choice, just don't force it on the rest of us. That works out really well, don't you think?
Grand Old Party is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
How do we the people elect such stupid people and pay them hundreds of thousands a year!
Because "stupid people" elect them!
Because people who are scared of actually being free elect such tyranny.
Unlike Dr Gingrey, the rest of you may prefer to consult science when making commentary about female physiology.
Raped women conceive 8% more often.
Open a book other than the Bible once in a while and you can learn all kinds of things.
Or is learning a liberal thing?
Learning is an educated process.
Religion is a forced upon process by those leaders who are not educated but merely take words from a religious text and act as if they are those from within said book....nothing but actors upon a rotted stage.
Where did you get this 8% figure from?
Okay, grab, let's put it in a number you can grasp: 31,000 women a year become pregnant from rape. K?
Williams statement was women who are raped conceive 8% more often. Where did William get that info from was my question.
Who needs friends when you've got enemies like this guy? Keep it up, GOP. Soon we'll have a supermajority in both houses.
Gee wonder how many troglodytes will vote for this uneducated a$$ next election...
You'll like this one 800#....he got 69% of the vote in November....seems he's locked up the "trog" vote!
Let's ask rape victims if their rapes were legitimate or not.
Those who support the GOP and the Tea Party are scared that if they do not support them and the religious beliefs that events such as the Salem Witch Hunts and the Spanish Inquisiton will happen again. Fear is the only tool of the GOP.
The GOP wants everyone to believe that they are correct because they are spoiled brats who have had everything handed to them by their forefathers and do not want to be looked upon by everyone else as being what the rest of Americans are. Lowly of status unlike they are in their estates on high.
The GOP keeps its supporters around them only because their supporters are scared that if they believe differently than what the GOP wants that they will lose what they have. Extortion, coercion and rape.
If this Stone aged morons daughter got raped would it be legitimate? Keep it up GOP,heck of a job! Love to hear some supporters of this moron! Lets hear it Jethro,defend him!
One thing you need to give the GOP credit for........they never give up on repeating their mistakes!
Yes, if the GOP could win an award for consistency(in matters of women) they would win hands down.
Of course this comes from the land of where:incest is best.