I also think the theory could have some merit because it has a sound, biological, evolutionary basis. Looking back to primitive times, it would be a big disadvantage to survival if a woman was raped and had to raise a child on her own without support from a steady mate. Natural selection would therefore favor individuals who were less likely to get pregnant from an unwanted attack, and the feeling of stress could be the mechanism to help make a pregnancy less likely. Nevertheless, the competing force of reproduction would be fighting within the species to make pregnancy possible in that case anyway. It’s still just a theory of course, but it is reasonable and logical enough to be considered and studied further.
Here’s a great idea! How about Akin step down and the repubs can give him a little grant and he can put on a white lab coat and study that little theory for the next 20 years or so.
It’d already been studied, preeclampsia or basically involuntary abortion of the pregnancy is thought to be an innate defense mechanism for women who were sleeping with partners that may not be around to help take care of the offspring. It already occurs in about 10% of pregnancies and couples thought to be trying to have a baby are being advised to make sure the woman is “familiar” with the man’s sperm and is exposed to it repeatedly, doing so lessens the odds of “preeclampsia” occurring.
Studies have shown that preeclampsia occurring is more likely when a woman has a one night stand, so a rape could definitely fall under this category, but preeclampsia happens 20-30 weeks into the pregnancy, there’s nothing that stops the pregnancy itself from happening and the percentages once again, are about 10% of all pregnancies, so very low.