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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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The GOP is really obsessive with this thing about women's genitalia. So am I, but not in this way. LOL!
oh GOP. Nothing women like more than men mansplaining to them about their own bodies.
On the one hand you have the "if you're going to be raped anyway why not relax and enjoy it" crowd. On the other the "if you got pregnant from rape it's because you weren't fighting hard enough" crowd.
Therefore ladies if you're being raped, relax and produce babies like good little property.
http://www.gop.com/
Here the GOP goes again - talking about sex!
Deep-south Republicans: the same people who believe that the Earth is 6000 years old.
Where are all the repubs? Aren't they going to defend this guy? LOL.
Unbelievable. Just when you thought the two bozos in Missouri and Indiana had convinced every GOP politician to stay as far away from the subject as possible, this nut job has to put in his two cents.
We have to believe him because he's a doctor, and an OB/GYN at that? Pffft! Not everyone given a medical degree graduated in the top 10% of their class. Someone had to be towards the bottom and methinks Rep. (Dr.) Gingrey - hey, pretty close to Gingrich, also from Georgia - falls into that category.
at the bottom right next to Rand Paul MD
Does this mean a republican woman claiming to have been raped & is pregnant is a liar ?
How can a woman say they are a Republican, with these idiotic men say these kinds of things???? The GOP have finally lost their collective minds!!!!!
As a former Republican, I can tell you that I didn't leave the party - the party left me! Republican used to mean less government interference in people's lives, it seems that now they only represent corporate interests and the christian taliban. Back in the day, a REAL Republican would regard abortion as a decision between a woman and her doctor - government butt out! As for all those 'good' Christians, a REAL Republican would acknowledge that religion has NO role in government decisions, ever. And these wars in the middle east? America needs to take care of our own first, and again, butt out of issues not our own, no more Team America, World Police. Oh, and FYI, a REAL Republican would understand that prohibition has NEVER worked, so legalize both prostitution and marijuana and use both a tax cow. They'd put a stop to NDAA, the Patriot Act and make the use of drones in American airspace illegal. That's how REAL Republicans would roll....sigh!
amy: Only those with superhuman courage and conviction can break out of the hold of a cult. Loved your post - wish I was so articulate.
If this is not proof that the right is challenged with cognitive processing, I do not know what is... Not that gun control or economic logic has not presented their symptoms clearly.
Isn't it statistically the same as how often intercourse results in a pregnancy? Hmmmm who would have thunk it.
A clue for the obviously clueless GOP teabaggers, when you're in a hole, stop digging.
That is some funny @!$%# . I laughted until I lost control of my body without anyone's help. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
1
This has nothing to with a Woman's Body, shutting down a possible pregnancy due to her own system. It has to do more with the luck of the draw. If she is ovulating there is a very good chance should would become pregnant; not because of some mysterious internal mechanism, but because the Rape happened at the wrong "right" time. A rape victim is not going to feel any better about the violence, because she does not think she was fertile at the time! What an idiot Doctor (?).
First of all, some things a person thinks should not be spoken or written. Rape is not a mundane subject matter to be talked about as if trying to decide what detergent to use. Rape in tramatic, heinous, highly stressful and a indelible emotional experience. Many women and men are never the same. It does not matter whether the rape ends in pregnancy or not. However, I venture to say that if this congress member's mother, wife, daughter, sister, granddaughter, etc. had to go through a rape experience, ending in pregnancy or not -- his open minded thinking would fly right out of the window. Rape is just not a topic to discuss in a generalized way especially with people who do not know what they are talking about, physician or not.
The comment was "a little bit over the top." What would this knuckle-dragger consider to be way over the top. Genocide?
I wonder when the "true Republicans" will wise up and dump the Christian Taliban from their ranks? I remember when the GOP stood for LESS GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE in people's lives. That means butting out of decisions best made between a woman and her doctor. That means booting those who wish to shove their belief systems down everyone's throats. Today's Republican party will continue to loose elections as long as they only keep representing the corporate elite & war mongering evangelicals.
What is it with the GOP and their rape fetish?
And their gun fetish. They have some serious Freudian issues (not enough Mommy love?).
The just don't get it, do they? The Retaliban party is at it again.
Haven't read all the posts but.... I would just like to hear what the consensus opinion is among Ob/Gyns.
I would like to hear what the psychiatrists have to say about the GOP.
The crazy end of the Republican party is at it again. If they can get rid of these lunatics (this one is actually a doctor which makes it even worse) they might be able to make some progress come next election cycle, but if they keep this up, the Democrats have nothing to fear. I never thought it was possible for an educated man to be so stupid in a public forum. My flabber is ghasted.
What we have here is another G.O.P. (Grand Obstructionist Party) a_— hole!
These fools keep getting more ridiculous every week . Pretty soon they will say you can get VD from a toilet seat . How many will believe them ? The scary part is , plenty .
I see we have so called doctors that flock with the so called "conservatives" who will put the woman on trial when she is raped instead of the rapist. We knew we had lawyers, judges, and now we know we have doctors also try to defend the rapist!! It is no wonder this country is in the shape it is is in with idiots like that running around and supposedly have some knowledge of what they have studied all their lives.
Someone has to graduate at the bottom of the medical school class.