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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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Hahaha. I am beginning to think this country is de-evolving. Go GOP, say something else stupid.
GOP=Goofy Old People. Their Jesus must wear a white cape and hood. They pray to a burning cross no doubt.
Anyone who bases a religion upon nailing a man to a cross for their salvation is a devolved and delusional person who has been trapped by Satan who was said to have been sealed under the cross where Jesus was crucified.
The cross and nailing of Jesus to the cross is a gate into the world of Satan of whom the Bible states did in fact make it hard for humans to see his presence on Earth.
You two are to be pitted.
Flat earthers, all.
Anyone who views any form of rape as being legitimate is in fact a rapist theirself.
read the article, you have been legitimately raped by the Oblameocrats.
OMG...when will these southern GOP idiots learn to stop beating a dead horse? Hopefully....never! Ha!
Just when you think these 18th century Republicans couldn't get any more stupider!
Todays GOP is evolving to a bunch of Fred and Wilma Flintstones! Yabba yabba do!
The GOP and the Tea Party ......are living in the 50's......How is that possible?
If common sense doesn't rear it's head in the GOP.... there will be no more GOP very very soon.
The american people will denounce them as completly out of touch....useless...and untrustworthy.
It's sad to think it but do they really believe this crap in their heart.? I wounder what their thoughts would be if it was one of their daughters or wife's.
the 1850's!
Yeah, the 1850s...
But who cares. You are very correct; all they have to do is stay the course. Keep doing what they're doing and saying what they're saying and they will simply disappear into oblivion.
GOPers are the reason abortion needs to remain legal. Abort all GOPers and Americas intellect will rise immensely!
Another right wing physician-politician putting their oppressive fascist ideology before their "Hippocratic Oath".... Loyalty, Integrity and Honesty means nothing to the GOP'ers... They really disgust me.
GOPers are the reason abortion needs to remain legal. Abort all Rightwingers/Teabaggers and Americas intellect will rise immensely!
The GOP and the Tea Party ......are living in the 50's......How is that possible?
If common sense doesn't rear it's head in the GOP.... there will be no more GOP very very soon.
The american people will denounce them as completly out of touch....useless...and untrustworthy.
It's sad to think it but do they really believe this crap in their heart.? I wounder what their thoughts would be if it was one of their daughters or wife's.
Another right wing physician-politician putting their oppressive fascist ideology before their "Hippocratic Oath".... Loyalty, Integrity and Honesty means nothing to the GOP'ers... They really disgust me.
The GOP is living in the 50s,the 1850s!
In California there is a law that states a women who is unmarried cannot claim that she was raped. The law has been on the books since 1872 and is a double edged sword involving rape where a women is meant to be scared of being raped because she is not married and should thus for her security and well being get married against her will and have children so that she will not be raped. Once again rape after the fact.
Why does the GOP have such a low regard for women? The only women's votes they will soon be getting are the wives of the "barefoot and pregnant" goobers, who probably don't their wives to fill out their own ballots!!
Which third world country did this "doctor" get his degree in?
USA ... Or haven't you noticed the level of ignorance in US society ? #1 in military spending and imprisonment of its citizens ... Everything else (Math,Science,Literacy, English,World Culture .....); lagging behind countries like Somalia and Ethiopia ...
The GOPers should be comedians,they do great stand up comedy. Yes slavery was a great thing said Congressman Jethro Bodine,it gave those negros a "work" ethic!
These guys are absolutely, amazing, freakin idiots. Third world education indeed. They will continue too lose with people like these in their party.
What a Fool, Where do they find these people? They need to move to Iran where everything is just fine in the world.... peace and love where women are trash and can be shot no bag limit .Help
Keep digging that hole...omg this is never going to end...
Another form of rape that can be brought into the light are those who say that because you are a temporary employee that you do not have any rights because you do not believe in the message of the CEO that resides over the company that has been mandated through the employees of the company.
Such CEO's will harass and menace employees to the point of being forced to believe in the extremist CEO's message and either give up their individual freedoms and liberties in order to remain employed with the company even if only said employee is a temporary employee the final method of the CEO is to force the temporary employee to conceive children so that such children can be used against the parents to force the temporary employee to believe in the political or religious message of the CEO which is again rape after the fact because such an act of aggression goes against the Constitution of the United States of America and the freedoms and liberties protected therein.
Such CEO's family lines can also be traced back to the Church of England where state religion and mandates were forced upon Americans through the King and Queens rule of power that they created through laws that they personally wrote.
If any person suggests that you have to have a family in order to receive benefits then they are in fact rapists.
I can't believe he was defending the remarks. I am sure everyone agrees that after getting beaten to a pulp and brutally raped, chances of becoming pregnant are slim. but that is only a small percentage of how rapes go down!! Some don't leave a mark and to call that type not legitimate is absolutely infuriating. What is wrong with these people?
This guy's a doctor?????? God help us.
While they may be somewhat right from a purely technical perspective and under a very specific condition, Akin tried to use it as an excuse for a religiously derived political position that includes withholding healthcare from women and preventing couples from making choices. So what Akin said is still so very wrong.