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Too many people are missing the point on Todd Akin.
He's not alone. He's not an extremist outlier. He's not a crazy person making up strange and deplorable things on a subject he knows nothing about.
Akin has cited Dr. John Willke as his source. Dr. Willke, who worked with former governor and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee to produce a movie about abortion. It includes Dr. Willke's entirely unfounded assertion that the female body has some kind of stress reaction which can ensure that she can't get pregnant from rape. This is an attempt to justify making it illegal for a rape victim to do anything but carry her rapist's baby to term. A full nine months of dedicating her body to supporting and nurturing the result of a horrific and deeply personal criminal attack. (After all, if she can't get pregnant from rape, then it must not have really been rape...) And Akin isn't the only one who was taken in. Rick Perry changed his views after watching the movie.
In 2007, the Romney campaign issued a press release touting Dr. Wilke's endorsement, and there is some reporting that Dr. Willke met privately with Romney on a recent campaign stop.
Akin is one of 40 Republican members of Congress who oppose a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest.
Paul Ryan shares Akin's position. Their voting records on the issue are nearly identical. Ryan has cosponsored nearly 40 bills which would have criminalized abortion for rape victims. That includes HR3 - the third bill introduced in the newly-Republican House in 2011, when they'd repeatedly promised to make jobs and the economy their number one priority - which would have allowed exemptions only for "an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest." You got that? "Forcible rape." Think about that for a second. If anything, that's worse than calling it "legitimate rape." Ryan and Akin were joined by over 200 other members of Congress in sponsoring that bill.
And the Republican Party's official platform, to be ratified at the convention, is to oppose abortion, even in cases of rape or incest. They even strengthened the language from previous years, calling for a ban on the "morning after pill," even for victims of rape and incest.
Republicans are loudly calling for Akin to step down. They're throwing him under the bus. For what? But he is not alone. They just don't want you to notice that he shares their beliefs and their voting record on the issue. They're denouncing him so that you don't notice that he was only supporting the official party platform.
(With thanks to the Rachel Maddow Show for bringing all this to light.)
He's not alone. He's not an extremist outlier. He's not a crazy person making up strange and deplorable things on a subject he knows nothing about.
Akin has cited Dr. John Willke as his source. Dr. Willke, who worked with former governor and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee to produce a movie about abortion. It includes Dr. Willke's entirely unfounded assertion that the female body has some kind of stress reaction which can ensure that she can't get pregnant from rape. This is an attempt to justify making it illegal for a rape victim to do anything but carry her rapist's baby to term. A full nine months of dedicating her body to supporting and nurturing the result of a horrific and deeply personal criminal attack. (After all, if she can't get pregnant from rape, then it must not have really been rape...) And Akin isn't the only one who was taken in. Rick Perry changed his views after watching the movie.
In 2007, the Romney campaign issued a press release touting Dr. Wilke's endorsement, and there is some reporting that Dr. Willke met privately with Romney on a recent campaign stop.
Akin is one of 40 Republican members of Congress who oppose a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest.
Paul Ryan shares Akin's position. Their voting records on the issue are nearly identical. Ryan has cosponsored nearly 40 bills which would have criminalized abortion for rape victims. That includes HR3 - the third bill introduced in the newly-Republican House in 2011, when they'd repeatedly promised to make jobs and the economy their number one priority - which would have allowed exemptions only for "an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest." You got that? "Forcible rape." Think about that for a second. If anything, that's worse than calling it "legitimate rape." Ryan and Akin were joined by over 200 other members of Congress in sponsoring that bill.
And the Republican Party's official platform, to be ratified at the convention, is to oppose abortion, even in cases of rape or incest. They even strengthened the language from previous years, calling for a ban on the "morning after pill," even for victims of rape and incest.
Republicans are loudly calling for Akin to step down. They're throwing him under the bus. For what? But he is not alone. They just don't want you to notice that he shares their beliefs and their voting record on the issue. They're denouncing him so that you don't notice that he was only supporting the official party platform.
(With thanks to the Rachel Maddow Show for bringing all this to light.)
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