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Still Pushing Rape Babies — PLEASE SHARE
Kelly Burrell is the star of Missouri Republican Senate Candidate Todd Akin’s latest commercial. In the ad, Ms. Burrell speaks about having an abortion and having been raped. The ad carefully sidesteps whether the mother of two had an abortion following a rape, though that is certainly the implication of the spot.
The interesting thing that is not explored in the ad is Ms. Burrell’s relationship with Congressman Akin and his son. Their history is more involved than the simple appearance in this advertisement as a raped woman having an abortion and then regretting it would suggest. Read the article that appeared well before this ad here.
That old dog Akin and his Republican cohorts just won’t let that bone go.
PLEASE VOTE ON NOVEMBER 6 TO LET MITT ROMNEY AND HIS COMRADES KNOW THAT RAPE IS RAPE AND THAT THEY ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THAT ISSUE
Please Register To Vote; Your Freedoms Are At Stake
Don’t believe it? Just look what the Conservative Party is doing in the U.K. One of their first actions upon assuming leadership of the United Kingdom Parliament was to start dismantling social safety nets such as the Disability Living Allowance. Paralypians are one group of many who will be adversely affected by this proposed change.
Now the Conservative Party’s Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt is setting his sights on limiting a woman’s right to choose to only the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. This move would have the consequence of stopping the effective use of amniocentesis by woman to determine the in utero health of their unborn children since it is considered a very dangerous procedure if used in the first twelve weeks of term. This is an effective way to stop a woman’s right to choose in its tracks.
What a limitation to the first twelve weeks means is that you will have to make a decision to terminate a pregnancy without any scientifically approved diagnosis since amniocentesis is too dangerous. Following the first twelve weeks, if you or your doctor believe that there are problems with the fetus and find that the situation is correct using amniocentesis, the UK law would prohibit you from terminating the pregnancy except under very rare circumstances.
Of course in the United States, the Republican Party is far more direct about limiting a woman’s right to choose: women will have no rights whatsoever, even in cases of incest or rape. After all, Republicans consider rape babies a “gift from god.”
Do you think that this is just empty rhetoric; just take a look at what is happening in the U.K.
Not only will the Republican Party take irrevocably take away a woman’s right to choose. The country is just one Supreme Court justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade. Supreme Court justices are appointed for life. The next sitting president will get to choose at least two justices, if you consider the ages of the oldest members of the court. Even one more conservative justice appointed by a politically motivated president means that Roe v. Wade will be history for not just you, but your daughters and possibly your granddaughters, irrespective of which party is in power in the intervening years.
So,
If you do nothing else between now and November 6th, please register to vote and get your friends to register to vote. Then on November 6th, make sure that everyone votes. Do it like your life, and the lives of your daughters and granddaughters depend on it, because it does.
This Story Has Already Been Told
As I read more and more about the Republican Party’s treatment of women and women’s rights (as officially recognized in their 2012 Party Platform), I started thinking that I had heard this tale before. Substitute a few things like “financial crisis” for “environmental disaster” and then it become crystal clear.
Let’s Get This Straight
UPDATE (10/26/12) – Add Another One; The Rape Doesn’t Get You Pregnant Or Rape Is Good Gang
The list is growing by the minute. Rather than draft a new post each time, I will simply list all people (politicians or not; Republican, Democrat, or Other( who says that either rape does not result in pregnancy or that rape can be good:
Todd Akin (Republican candidate for Senate, Missouri): legitimate rape does not result in pregnancy.
Mike Huckabee (Former Republican governor of Arkansas and one time candidate for POTUS): Forcible rape has produced some exceptional people.
Steve King (Republican congressman, Iowa): Has never heard of instances of pregnancy resulting from incest or rape in statutory rape cases.
Bryan Fischer (Spokesman for the American Family Association): “real, genuine rape, a case of forcible rape,” would “make it impossible for her or difficult in that particular circumstance to conceive a child.”
Sharon Barnes (Republican District Committeewoman, Missouri): echoes Akin’s comments and adds that the few who do get pregnant are “blessed.”
Paul Ryan (Republican presumptive vice-presidential candidate): believes that life begins at conception and co-sponsored legislation that would allow hospitals to deny abortions even when it was necessary to save a woman’s life.
Gawker reports that Paul Ryan considers rape as just another form of conception.
More about Ryan’s remarks Here
Henry Aldridge (Republican State Representative, North Carolina) said that during rape “the juices don’t flow” so a woman cannot become pregnant.
Rick Santorum (Former Republican senator from Pennsylvania and former presidential candidate): rape babies are gifts from God.
Kay Bailey Hutchinson (Republican Senator from Texas): On her view of the GOP abortion plank that does not have any exemption for rape or incest, “I don’t think that anything that was said in the platform is against the focus on protecting life whenever possible,” she said. “And I think most people agree with that.”
Mitt Romney (Republican Presumptive Candidate for President): although he says that he would favor an exemption for rape and incest in any law prohibiting abortions, his actions as Governor of Massachusetts says otherwise. Although he said while campaigning for that office that he would permit exceptions for rape victims, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed hospitals to offer the so-called “morning after” pill to rape survivors. Thankfully, the Massachusetts legislature overrode his veto. Do not be fooled by empty campaign promises. Remember the Etch-a-Sketch.
Tom Smith (Republican, Senate Candidate from Pennsylvania): Having a baby resulting from a rape is similar to having a child out of wedlock.
Rick Berg (Republican Candidate for Senate, North Dakota): Rape victims who get an abortion should go to jail for life.
Richard Mourdock (Republican Senatorial Candidate in Indiana): Pregnancies resulting from rape are intended by God
Joe Walsh (Republican Candidate for Congress in Illinois): There is no medical emergency that would necessitate an abortion
I will add to this list as more and more social conservatives go on the message that rape can”t make you pregnant or is good for you. Check back often.
In Defense of Todd Akin,
Former Republican governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says that forcible rape has produced extraordinary people.
Fair-minded people must understand once and for all that Todd Akin’s position was not an aberration, but is systemic throughout social conservative thinking. It is not an isolated case of a misspoken phrase; neatly shoved under the carpet by political spinmeisters.
Whether you are female or are male, but hold the females in your life dear to your heart, just think about this when you go into the voting booth.
Philip Chen - Author/Cartoonist 