Missouri GOP Rep. Todd Akin: ‘Female Body Has Ways to Shut Down’ Pregnancy in Case of ‘Legitimate Rape’
Our mind-blowingly ignorant Republican comment of the day comes from Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, currently running for the US Senate, who seems to believe that women have a magical ability to prevent conception in cases of “legitimate rape.”
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Akin said that even in the worst-case scenario — when the supposed natural protections against unwanted pregnancy fail — abortion should still not be a legal option for the rape victim.
“Let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work, or something,” Akin said. “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
I’d write more, but I’m actually a little stunned that a human being has managed to reach adulthood with a completely non-functioning brain.
(h/t: Gus.)
The full interview, in all its impenetrable stupidity, is here: The Jaco Report: August 19, 2012.
Of course, the real point Akin is attempting to make is that women don’t get pregnant if they’re “legitimately raped” — therefore there’s no need to allow abortions in case of rape.
I don’t know how else to say it: this is an evil, misogynistic, inhuman point of view. But unfortunately, not unusual in the Republican Party of 2012.
Todd Akin, by the way, is a member of the House Science and Technology committee. Weep for America.