“The use of “legitimate” rape, was a mistake. I’m sure he meant “actual” rape (as opposed to, perhaps, statutory rape.)”
My take on what he was trying to convey:
“Legitimate rape”: Someone who forcibly performs intimate relations with an unwilling participant.
“Illegitimate rape”: Some bimbo who lays down, spreads her legs, has consensual intimate relations, gets pregnant then CLAIMS rape in order to get a free abortion.
That was my take on what Akin meant by “legitimate,” but still..., its a dark, twisting, muddy road to take when political enemies from all sides have mined the way.
“Illegitimate rape”: Some bimbo who lays down, spreads her legs, has consensual intimate relations, gets pregnant then CLAIMS rape in order to get a free abortion.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
And, if you extend Akin's analysis--that the reproductive system shuts down after a (legitimate) rape--the inference is that pregnant women who claim to have been raped are lying, because if they really had been raped, they couldn't get pregnant. It's an insult to women, an insult to medical science, and an insult to our collective intelligence.
Bottom line: the answer to the left's loaded question on abortion to us on the pro-life side of "Well, what about in the case of rape?" should not be, "Women who get raped don't get pregnant."