The Anger Blog, The Legislation and De-Legitimizing of Rape

The Legislation and De-Legitimizing of Rape. Most of us outside the state of Missouri were unaware of GOP Congressman Todd Akin until his recent interview on television station KTVI in St. Louis. As a result of this interview, his name recognition soared to unbelievable heights. He is now known around the globe as an idiot.

What a contrast from a few weeks ago when we were so proud of our Olympians who represented the United States in such a glorious manner. Now it is embarrassing to be an American, when the rest of the world sees that someone as ignorant as Todd Akin can be elected to Congress, not just once but six times. The GOP thought so highly of him as to support his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the upcoming November election.

Incidentally, Akin's intellectual prowess has not gone unrecognized by his GOP colleagues. This analytical and academic giant is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. If his knowledge of the female reproductive system is any indication of his scientific acumen, then something as simple as understanding climate change should be a 'no-brainer' for him.

A quick recap of his interview might suffice to give some insight into the backlash that has occurred as a result of his comments. Mr. Akin was asked if he believes that abortion would be justified if the woman had become pregnant as a result of being raped. His response was that rape rarely results in pregnancy. This comment was used to justify his belief that women don't need to have access to abortion, since there are no circumstances wherein it is justified. He explains further that, according to information he has obtained from physicians, "… if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down." Of course, he is either lying about this information coming from doctors or, if that actually is the case, those physicians should have their license revoked.

Truth be told, a study from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta estimate that 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year in the United States. Five percent of females who are raped do get pregnant. These figures show that approximately 640,000 reported rapes per year occur in this country. There is no telling what the actual number is, since most rapes do not get reported. The reasons women don't report rapes are many and (I'm sure) varied. However, when your elected Congressmen try to categorize rape as 'legitimate' (as compared to what?), or forcible, you realize that they consider certain rapes (and possibly the majority of reported rapes) to be 'not so bad' or a case where "maybe she was asking for it." This kind of thinking, or at least the actions resulting from it, should make every 'legitimate' female, as well as males who care deeply about the women in their lives and understand the underpinnings of currently proposed legislation dealing with rape, fighting mad.

This is not just an individual Congressman who feels this way. Many members of the GOP, including Dr. Fay Boozman, who ran for the U.S. Senate in Arkansas in 1998, used the same rhetoric in regard to abortion. After his defeat, then Governor Mike Huckabee appointed him to head the Arkansas Department of Health. There are more examples from the past but, to make this discussion more succinct, I'll just jump to the present. The Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan co-sponsored House Bill HR 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act in 2011 with Representative Todd Akin. The bill would make any federal funding of abortion illegal in all cases, even if the pregnancy was a result of rape. Most Republicans in the House favored this bill. They tried to categorize rape, using the term "forcible rape," but later had to strike the word forcible from the bill because of negative backlash from the public.

It makes me ashamed and angry that every person in this country is not outraged over this issue. Many are. But it's obvious (from the fact that his ratings in the Senate race, though down a bit, are still competitive) that Todd Akin's remarks, beliefs, and values on women's healthcare issues were not as shocking and offensive to a great number of people as they were and still are to me. Even though some in the Republican Party feel he used the wrong terminology, or that he hurt the GOP's chances of victory, and wanted him to drop his candidacy, these same people will naturally vote for him if given the chance. And the polls are showing a divided electorate. What has this country come to, when politics triumphs over human decency?

Related reading on this subject: Women and PTSD, sex differences in prevalence.