Todd Akin and “Legitimate Rape”
Todd Akin is a man in trouble.
The Missouri Republican congressman has been damned by his comments regarding women and rape. In a statement on The Jayco Report Akin said, in response to a question as to whether he believes in abortion after rape, that if a woman is a victim of a “legitimate rape, the human body has ways to shut that whole thing down.”
Media commentators and politicians have slammed Akin, with president Obama saying that his comments were “offensive” and “way out there.” Even his own party has distanced itself from his comments, with republican vice-president nominee Paul Ryan calling Akin and asking him to think long and hard about what’s best for him and the party. Akin has been asked by many, both republican and democrat, to withdraw from the senate race. Akin, however, has other ideas.
Sticking by the ‘meaning’ of his comments, the Missouri candidate has said in a media release that he “used the wrong words in the wrong way,” and has asked “for your forgiveness.” “The mistake I made was in the words I said, not in the heart I hold.” So what is his argument?
Akin claims that, after being raped, the female body has the ability to reject the sperm of the man who raped her. According to Reverend Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources, there may be some validity to his claims. Fleischmann quotes a study that suggests 2-5% of rapes result in pregnancy, compared to the 85% success rate of consensual, contraception-free sex. He suggests that this shows Akin’s comments have a sense of validity, which the general public doesn’t see. He says that Akin should “leave the emotionally distorting event of pregnancy from a rape for a later day when society is better educated.” Although Fleischmann makes an emotionally charged and seemingly persuasive argument, there are some problems with his reasoning.
Fleischmann naïvely compares the results of consensual, baby wanting parents to a random often-different aged and incompatible pairing of people. Taking into account the fact (incidentally from the same website on which Fleischmann makes his claims) that 33% of women raped are either too young or too old to become pregnant, 35% of women of childbearing age are or have been sterilised, 15% of men are naturally sterile and a certain amount of women are either already pregnant, on the pill or infertile at the time of the rape. Given this, it is hard to compare this 2% with the 85% of women who are actively doing everything they can to try to get pregnant. Is it as Fleischmann infers, and the 2% of rapes (2,000 women in the US each year) who become pregnant are liars and had consensual sex, or is Akin simply wrong, both scientifically and morally when he talks about his so-called legitimate rape?
It would seem that the sensible answer is that Akin has no idea what he is talking about. Akin was being interviewed concerning his anti-abortion bill (which incidentally was passed) the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. According to Hadley Freeman, this bill calls for extra taxpayer funding when a rape was “forcible.” This means that if someone is drugged and therefore “not forcible,” they will not qualify for the same funding as other rapes when paying for an abortion. Not that it should matter anyway, as women don’t get pregnant from rape…
Contradictions, contradictions.
Bibliography:
ProgressMO. (2012) ‘Todd Akin’s extreme anti-choice positions’ [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M09iWwKiDsA [Accessed: 3 September 2012].
OFAClips. (2012) ‘President Obama on statements made by Rep. Akin” [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82NHUKQ3nWM&feature=related [Accessed: 3 September 2012]
ABCNews. (2012) ‘Todd Akin Refuses to Drop Out of Race” [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJheerZWd4g&feature=related [Accessed: 3 September 2012]
WSJDigitalNetwork. (2012) ‘Todd Akin Apologises for Comments” [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbOKlGOabhg [Accessed: 3 September 2012]
Fleischmann R. (2012) ‘Rape, Pregnancy and the Akin Controversy” [online]. Available from: http://www.christianliferesources.com/news/rape-pregnancy-and-the-akin-controversy-8741 [Accessed: 3 September 2012]
Willke J C. (2012) ‘Rape Pregnancies Are Rare’ [online]. Available from: http://www.christianliferesources.com/article/rape-pregnancies-are-rare-461 [Accessed: 3 September 2012]
Freeman H. (2012) ‘Everyone’s talking about rape” [online]. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/21/everyones-talking-about-rape [Accessed: 3 September 2012]
I agree Ryan, Akin doesn’t appear to know what he is talking about and the amount of people who apologize after something has occurred is ridiculous and often not meaningful. The fact that there is a debate that some individual’s won’t receive the same funding is stupid, a r.ape is a r.ape and the circumstances shouldn’t matter and they should all qualify. It is interesting and surprising that such a low amount of R.ape victims actually get pregnant. When Akin was performing his speech he could have used more sincere wording and have more facts, it does appear that he had some minimal knowledge but he should have expanded on his facts, if there even is anymore? I felt that in this writing we could have heard more of your opinion about the topic rather than just a small paragraph on your stance as I am sure you have strong opinions on the topic. The article was amusing and captivating throughout right from a man in trouble to contradictions, the statistics worked well to convey versions of truth. Good job Ryan!
Todd Akin obviously has no idea what he is taking about. It is clear that he has obviously not researched it thoroughly as you have proven when you discussed the problems with his claim and the claims of Reverend Robert Fleischmann. They seem to be looking at the small part of a much larger picture. I agree with Noah, r.ape is r.ape, the circumstances are irrelevant and Akins has no right to refer to r.ape as ‘Legitimate’. His wording is not just misguided but so are his facts. He should be more aware that as a politic his wording and research is very important in the way people are going to respond to his ideas, even more so on topics such as this. The public does not quickly forget statements like the one Akin made, especially when the media constantly bring it up. This is a very nicely balanced article.
Akin’s comments minimalize the seriousness of r-ape. To imply that the victim has control over any part of the situation, especially in preventing an unwanted pregnancy is insulting to the victim.
People in public positions should choose their words carefully and not be allowed to use far-fetched statistics as a basis for an argument. Did he really think a thoughtless comment like this would win him votes?