The Code Behind Todd Akin’s "Legitimate Rape" Statement

The media continues to be awash with stories and commentary on Republican U. S. Senate nominee Todd Akin's vile statement on "legitimate rape."  As it should be.  Particularly because Akin is merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the actual attitude now pervasive in the GOP which is bigoted and chauvinistic towards women.  Other groups such as gays and Hispanics receive only bigotry without the chauvinism.  The good news is that so far Akin refuses to withdraw as a candidate and therefore will keep this radioactive aspect of GOP policy front and center.  Akin is the face of today's GOP.  The Washington Post has a main page editorial that calls out Akin and his GOP brethren who despite their protestations to the contrary are engaged in a war against women.  Here are excerpts:

LITTLE WONDER that Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate, is trying to back away from his comments about abortion and rape. So ignorant and offensive were his remarks that members of Mr. Akin’s own party, including its presidential standard-bearer, issued strong condemnations, though it took them a while to get strong enough. Mr. Akin was utterly unconvincing in explaining that he “misspoke.” It is scary that someone so ill-informed could hold elective office or have a chance of becoming a senator.

To suggest there are different categories of rape — some real and awful and others that are not — is loathsome. Even from someone who would liken student loans to Stage 3 cancer, as Mr. Akin once did, the comment was stunning in its stupidity and insensitivity. 

At first, Mr. Akin issued a statement saying that he “misspoke” and his “off-the-cuff remarks” didn’t “reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.” The explanation was hard to square with the fact that opposition to abortion has been a core tenet of his time in office — the issue isn’t new to him, in other words — and that he expounded on his thoughts during a lengthy interview with KTVI’s Charles Jaco.

Unfortunately, Mr. Akin’s remarks are not the first, nor are they likely to be the last, in a long-running effort to downplay the horror of rape as a way to restrict access to abortion. Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic catalogued how anti-abortion politicians, since at least 1988, have used the canard of “legitimate rape” or “assault rape” in efforts to restrict and outlaw abortions. What they’re really saying is that not all rape victims are victims, and so we shouldn’t worry if they have to deal with unwanted pregnancy.

Earlier this year, every House Republican and 16 Democrats voted for a bill that would have rewritten the rape exception in federal abortion funding bans by inserting the phrase “forcible rape,” words eerily similar to Mr. Akin’s notion of “legitimate rape.” Among the 227 co-sponsors was Rep. Paul Ryan, now Mitt Romney’s running mate. The bill never made it to the Senate floor; let’s hope the same will be said for Mr. Akin and his unacceptable views.

As noted in a post yesterday ALL of the Hampton Roads Republicans in Congress backed the "forcible rape" bill.  Every one of them,  including Scott Rigell of the 2nd Congressional district.  I hope women in Rigell's district wake up to the level of contempt Rigell has for them and vote for his opponent.