As if it's not bad enough that Rep. Todd Akin believes that women who are legitimately raped (I cringe to put those two words together), he was also part of a House Republican effort to redefine rape. The point, http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/todd-akin-paul-ryan-redefining-rape">Mother Jones reports, was to keep federal funding for abortion away from teenagers, arguing that they might pretend they were raped by an older man (statutory rape, which is very common) in order to get the money because the right didn't want to "federally fund the abortion of tens of thousands of healthy babies of healthy moms, based solely on the age of their mothers."
More from that piece:
The implication of his position is that if you were raped and became pregnant, you must have actually wanted it—it wasn't really rape.
This isn't the first time Akin has expressed fringe views about rape in the context of the abortion debate. Last year, Akin, vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and most of the House GOP co-sponsored a bill that would have narrowed the already-narrow exceptions to the laws banning federal funding for abortion—from all cases of rape to cases of "forcible rape."
Drugged, raped, and pregnant? Too bad, says the House GOP. After I reported on the "forcible rape" language in January 2011, a wave of outcry from abortion-rights, progressive, and women's groups led the Republicans to remove it. But a few months later, in a congressional committee report, Republicans wrote that they believed the bill would continue to have the same effect despite the absence of the "forcible" language.
So, what we have here, are a bunch of dudes in Congress once again trying to decide what happens to women and what to do about it. Anyone else OK with that?
Comments
labman57 11 years, 8 months ago
Romney and Ryan to female voters: "The GOP has your back."
Meanwhile, Republican Senators vote against anti-domestic violence legislation, … the governor of Wisconsin repeals "equal pay for women" legislation, … conservative pundits and politicians claim that men deserve higher pay for equal work because "men need the added income more than do women" or because "men know more stuff than do women", … Romney, Ryan, and the Congressional GOP leadership vow to "kill ObamaCare", including all of the components within the ACA that provide affordable preventative health care for women and children, … Congressional and state Republican legislators strive to make affordable access to contraception and breast cancer screenings more difficult with their assault on PP and employee health insurance coverage, … female state legislators are shunned and silenced for uttering the word "vagina" (gasp) during an abortion debate, … GOP-controlled state legislatures mandate that women seeking an abortion provide social conservative politicians with "a womb with a view". … Rep. Akin utters a commonly-held view among conservatives that some rapes are "rapier" than are other rapes … and none other than Paul Ryan advocated a federal ban on abortion, in-vitro fertilization, and most forms of birth control, as well as a national mandate on the forced ultrasound requirement for women.
So much for the tea party/conservative movement's mantra: "small, non-intrusive government".
The 2012 GOP campaign slogan: A chicken in every pot and a spy-cam in every uterus.
American women to Republican Party: "WE will decide whether or not our rights are being assaulted by conservative policies, thank you very much."
by labman57
TedFlynn 11 years, 8 months ago