Ugh.
Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, who is not a medical doctor nor a woman, went on the Jaco Report on Sunday to give his very inneresting and ridiculous thoughts on rape and pregnancy.
Whilst discussing the controversial topic of abortion on the St. Louis broadcast, Akin claimed:
“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.”
First of all, what constitutes as a “legitimate rape?” Secondly, according to statistics from Journal of American Obstetrics and Gynecology, over 30,000 pregnancies result from rape every year and is something that occurs with “significant frequency.”
Apparently, Mr. Akin hasn’t read any updated facts lately and is basing his opinion on an ancient report that the trauma from a rape causes women to “secrete a certain secretion which has the tendency to kill sperm.” This is in fact NOT TRUE and has been denounced by many reproductive health experts FOR YEARS! Decades, in fact!
Well, looks like the congressman is now backpedaling and in an explanation he posted on his Faceook wall, he says that he “misspoke.”
While he doesn’t quite give a true apology, he says his words do “not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.”
You will be SHOCKED when you hear the words come out of his mouth in the original interview about rape (above). We’ll give you a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor, then read his entire statement on the matter (below)
“As a member of Congress, I believe that working to protect the most vulnerable in our society is one of my most important responsibilities, and that includes protecting both the unborn and victims of sexual assault. In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year. Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve.
I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action. I also recognize that there are those who, like my opponent, support abortion and I understand I may not have their support in this election.
But I also believe that this election is about a wide-range of very important issues, starting with the economy and the type of country we will be leaving our children and grandchildren. We’ve had 42 straight months of unacceptably high unemployment, trillion dollar deficits, and Democratic leaders in Washington who are focused on growing government, instead of jobs. That is my primary focus in this campaign and while there are those who want to distract from that, knowing they cannot defend the Democrats’ failed economic record of the last four years, that will continue to be my focus in the months ahead.”
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