delphipsmith: (seriously pissed)
[personal profile] delphipsmith
Once again a Republican puts his foot in his mouth (or his head up his ass) when talking about women's health issues. In this case, it's Todd Akin making a colossally insensitive and biologically ignorant statement about rape and pregnancy. He is apparently fine with abortion being illegal even in cases of rape because...wait for it..."If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Er, huh? Like what? A quick Tweet from the brain, "yo @fallopian_toobz pls ignore any-all sperm for next 48 hrs as they were unauthorized thx #legitimaterape" ??

This man is beyond belief. Apparently in Akin's world, if you get pregnant as a result of rape it's because at some level you consented to it. The Nation has an excellent follow-up piece on why it's dangerous to laugh at this sort of thing: "In the multi-dimensional chess that shapes public opinion, the game is less about individual elections and more about a sustained effort to mainstream radical ideas. In the case of denying women control over their lives, there's evidence that the bad guys may be winning the long-game..." The article is worth a read.

Some of the tweets on the topic are pretty clever; my favorite is from @Michelle9647: "The female body also has ways of shutting down your whole election." Heee.

By the way, Romney's VP Paul Ryan also opposes abortion in cases of rape and supported a personhood bill that would make fertilized eggs human beings. And let's not forget the major GOP backer who suggested the best birth control method was for a woman to hold an aspirin between her knees.

Consider this when you vote in November, ladies.

Date: 2012-08-20 05:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] squibstress.livejournal.com
Unbefreakinlievable. Actually, scratch that. Sadly, it's all too believable.

I actually don't a problem with Ryan's stance from the standpoint of consistency (although I disagree with him vehemently on abortion overall.) If one truly believes that a human life, with all its rights (and that the rights of a group of cells supersede the rights of the woman carrying it), begins at conception, it's logical to forbid abortion regardless of the level of agency exercised by the woman conceiving. What drives me nuts are the jokers who want to outlaw abortion based on the idea that "life begins at conception" but make an exception for rape or incest. Because those jokers are clearly not really interested in when life begins, but in punishing women. A woman who conceives through consensual sex "deserves" to suffer an unwanted pregnancy, while a woman who is raped... well, it's not her fault, so she shouldn't be punished.

All of it is just so depressing.

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