Posted on 08/25/2012 8:30:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Republican Todd Akin is standing firm. He has refused to bow to pressure to withdraw his candidacy for the U.S. Senate after he made a comment that Gary Bauer of The Campaign for Working Families called, "a gift to our political enemies."
When the Missouri Congressman was asked by a St. Louis TV station to state his views regarding possible exceptions for abortion, he responded, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." He added: "But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. You know I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."
For all his good intentions of trying to put the focus on the right to life of the unborn, Akins' use of the phrase "legitimate rape," which he later called a "misstatement," and for which he apologized and asked for forgiveness, has resulted in fierce castigations from Democrats and the liberal media. It has also brought calls from his fellow Republicans to withdraw from the race against incumbent Claire McCaskill.
Ann Coulter wrote, "If Akin truly loves his country and genuinely wants Roe v. Wade overturned, he will step aside and allow another Republican to run in his place." Coulter and others have said Akin should have been better prepared to respond to the question.
"How about saying," she offered, "'Yes, it's still a life, but more people are killed in drive-by shootings in Chicago every year. You give us the 2 million abortions that aren't a result of rape and incest and we'll give you the few thousand that are.'"
Coulter was correct in pointing to the huge number of deaths every year at the hands of abortionists. But her response still misses the mark on two points.
As lawyer Rebecca Kiessling, who was herself conceived in rape, says, "Rape exceptions in the law actually put the government in the position of having to ascertain when the child was conceived, who the father is, whether the child was conceived during the alleged rape or during intercourse with her husband or boyfriend, and if the child was conceived during the time frame of the alleged rape, then the government would need to determine whether the sexual intercourse was consensual or not."
According to Kiessling, the "rape exception" only perpetuates injustice against rape victims whose accounts are viewed with skepticism. She says that "it further leaves the majority of impregnated rape victims wholly unprotected under the law. Rape exceptions suggest that a 'real rape victim' couldn't possibly love 'the rapist's baby' and that rape victim mothers don't exist."
This assumption was expressed by Susan Milligan in U.S. News and World Report. She called children conceived through rape, "spawn." Such comments deserve as stern a rebuke as Akin's do. No child is any less human because he or she was conceived during a rape. Such a claim denies the biblical truth that all children-including the unborn-are created in the image of God. The circumstances of their conception are irrelevant. The baby in the womb is an innocent human person whose inalienable right to life must be protected just as much the baby outside of the womb.
Coulter's response also overlooked the fact that abortion itself is a traumatizing experience. The truth is:
abortion hurts women. Giving a woman the abortion option-whether she is the victim of a rape or a married woman with unplanned pregnancy-is not the "compassionate answer." Abortion does not bring healing; it brings misery, pain, and suffering, as millions of women who have had abortions can attest.
After 39 years of legal abortions in America, the statistics on the effects of abortion on women are nothing short of tragic:
•65 percent of women who abort report symptoms Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that they attribute to their abortions.
•Women who abort have a 62 percent higher risk of death from all causes for at least eight years after their pregnancies.
•Suicide rates in women are 6–7 times higher after an abortion.
Supporters of the abortion industry want to hide the truth that abortion is harmful to women. Every woman considering having an abortion should be told the fact that 31percent of women who have abortions suffer health complications afterwards.
•Women who abort are twice as likely to have pre-term or post-term deliveries in subsequent pregnancies.
•Women who abort are more likely to experience infertility, stillbirths, and miscarriages.
•Women who abort have a significantly increased risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer. (See the Elliot Institute's Life-Threatening Risks of Abortion)
As Rebecca Kiessling observes, Rep. Akin is not the first political candidate to have run afoul of the media over the question, "What about rape and incest?" "The problem," she says, "is not with these candidates' values. The problem is how they express them."
Kiessling says candidates should respond to the question by giving the following three-part answer:
First, according to the Supreme Court, the death penalty is "cruel and unusual punishment" and rapists don't deserve the death penalty. However, if the rapist father doesn't deserve such punishment, how can we say that the innocent child conceived in rape deserves to die for the crimes of her father?
Second, Keissling points out, rape victims are four times more likely to die within the next year after the abortion, with a higher rate of suicide, murder, drug overdose, etc.. "If we truly care about rape victims," she says, "we should protect them from the rapist, and from the abortion, and not the baby. A baby is not the worst thing that could ever happen to a rape victim-an abortion is."
Finally, notes Kiessling, rape victims choose abortion at half the rate of the average unplanned pregnancy, which is over 50 percent. "Only 15-25 percent of rape victims choose abortion…. The majority of rape victims choose to raise her child - not 'the rapist's baby'-HER child." At her website, Rebecca has gathered stories of women who became pregnant by rape and either regret aborting, are raising their children, or are birth-moms. She also has stories of those who were conceived in rape and/or incest.
The answer to the question, "What about rape and incest?" is clear-and it's not abortion. Two wrongs do not make a right.
-- Dr. Karen Gushta is a writer and researcher for Truth in Action Ministries (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries). Her most recent book is How Can America Survive? The Coming Economic Earthquake. She has also written The War on Children: How Pop Culture and Public Schools Put Our Kids at Risk (2009) and co-authored Ten Truths About Socialism (2010). Dr. Gushta is a former board member of the Broward County Right to Life and is Vice-President of Broward County Eagle Forum. Her doctorate is in Philosophy of Education.
Abortion only continues the cycle of violence.
END OF COMMENT
I’m willing to accept the “three exceptions” if it will get the ball rolling to stop the other 98% of abortions that don’t fit these categories.
Once we’ve legally stopped the other 98%, THEN we can argue about the rest. Until then, it is a waste of our time.
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I agree with your position both morally and politically.
IMHO, the way we cut through all the awkwardness to make this politically viable is to state our position like this:
"We are pro-choice. With consensual sex, the mother has made the choice. If you become pregnant through consensual sex, abortion will not be allowed, except to save the life of the mother.
In the case of rape or incest, the mother did not have a choice. Abortion will be allowed."
I am a man, and I cannot begin to imagine the phenomenal anguish that a woman, or child in many cases, must undergo when impregnated because of rape or incest. That decision must be between he and her god. For us to propose to legislate against that would be political suicide, and would keep us preventing all those other abortions resulting from consensual sex.
Let's get the victory now, move the ball toward our goal line, and worry about the rest later.
My perspective...
So we address one violent attack by committing another?
inre:19..i always counter with why is it the innocent child who must pay the price?
You spew their crap. You are in favor of killing babies.
Sangerite.
Whatever you think is right for your state.
Simple question: What did the baby do to deserve capital punishment?
No, I am not in favor of killing babies. I support the decision of a rape victim, whichever way she decides to go.
You do realize that other people call people like you crazy for a reason right?
Stop being psychotic.
So. If she decides to kill a baby - you are OK with that?
“...other people call people like you crazy for a reason right?”
Yeah. Liberals do it. I’m proud to be held in contempt by them.
“Stop being psychotic.”
Was not aware being pro-life was same as being psychotic. But if you say so....
I have a feeling a lot of people call you crazy for a reason.
As has already been stated, the abortion is another assault on the body of the rape/incest victim.
Another point is that it is often the perpetrator that pressures the victim to have an abortion in order to keep the crime undetected. This is why there are laws about taking a minor across state lines to have an abortion.
“But I am just going to tell you this. Forcing a woman to bear the child of her rapist is an extreme position, and I do not care how you try and justify it. It will NEVER be passed into law, so just keep keep on discussing it academically amongst yourselves if it makes you feel better, mmmk?”
I agree.
Call it whatever you want. I answered the question and I’m sticking by my answer.
I would never force by law a woman to bear the child of her rapist. If she chooses to bear that child, then God Bless her, if she chooses to not bear that child, then God Bless her.
And may God damn the rapist for creating this terrible situation.
If you are trying to get elected it’s real simple:
The rape victim gets to decide how to proceed and handle her own trauma.
Anything else and you WILL lose more votes than you gain.
Most rape victims most likely don’t do nuance. They get to decide for themselves.
“Once we’ve legally stopped the other 98%, THEN we can argue about the rest. Until then, it is a waste of our time.”
So true.
But then pregnant rape victims will have to go in front of some authority figure, like a judge, and say, "I was raped. Please let me have an abortion." She'd have a short period of time to somehow prove she was raped. And we know darned well millions of women will suddenly start claiming to have been raped so they could get abortions, and innocent men will be accused! I just don't think that would work. Abortion either needs to be legal on demand, or totally illegal in all cases except, perhaps, when a doctor determines that it's necessary to save the mother's life. It would be a lot harder for women to get some doctor to lie and say that their life was in danger, though no doubt it would be attempted.
>The violence of abortion parallels the violence of rape.
I doubt a rape victim sees it that way any more than the violence of a miscarriage parallels a child mauled by a pit bull.
Rape really is a game changer for most women voters.
>>In the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother, I support the decision that mother makes.
>So, you’re pro-choice. You do not believe in equality, or that our rights are God-given and therefore unalienable.
So, you’re against any Republicans getting elected to office where they can help change the existing bad laws.
Being pro-life isn’t the same as being psychotic, but forcing a woman to bear the child of her rapist IS.
If she chooses to bear that child, then I support that decision. If she chooses not to bear that child, then I support that decision.
So to answer your question, if a woman decides to kill the child of her rapist, yes, I’m OK with that. If the rapist wanted his child to have a fair shot in life, then he should have thought about that before he forced that child on someone who never agreed to that.
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