Posted on 08/21/2012 6:12:31 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo. -- the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in the November election -- is under pressure from Republican leaders to exit the race after wide coverage of his comments in a TV interview that during rape, "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," so she rarely gets pregnant. Akin walked back from his remarks, but Dr. John C. Willke -- president of the nationwide Life Issues Institute, who practiced medicine in Cincinnati for 40 years -- has not.
Willke served 10 years as president of the National Right to Life Committee. He had a daily 5-minute radio program carried on almost 400 radio stations for 18 years until recently, the Life Issues Institute's Web site said.
In an interview with The New York Times Monday, Willke said for a woman being raped: "This is a traumatic thing -- she's, shall we say, she's uptight, she is frightened, tight, and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic."
The 87-year-old Willke told the Times "way under 1 percent" of rape victims become pregnant, not just because of female biology but because about half of rapists "do not deposit sperm in the vagina," because many rapists have "a preference for rectal intercourse over vaginal," experience "premature ejaculation, which is a major factor" or "some of these guys just plain aren't fertile."
Several experts said a 1996 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology estimated that 5 percent of rapes result in pregnancy.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said Willke wrote in a 1999 article: "To get and stay pregnant a woman's body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain that is easily influenced by emotions. There's no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy."
Argument about rape, pregnancy dates back decades - August 20, 2012 - "The question of rape always stirs the emotions whenever it is introduced into the abortion debate," Dr. Fred Mecklenburg wrote in 1972.While U.S. Rep. Todd Akin cited only "doctors" as his source of information about the rarity of pregnancy resulting from rape, it is two pages, from Mecklenburg's 1972 article, "The Indications for Induced Abortion: A Physician's Perspective," that have influenced two generations of anti-abortion-rights activists hoping to build a medical case to ban all abortions without exception.
In Mecklenburg's original article, he wrote that pregnancy resulting from rape "is extremely rare" and cited as an example the city of Buffalo, N.Y., which had not seen "a pregnancy from confirmed rape in over 30 years." Other cities — Chicago, Washington, St. Paul — also had experienced lengthy spells without a rape-caused pregnancy, Mecklenburg wrote.
The reasons were numerous: Not all rapes result in "a completed act of intercourse," Mecklenburg wrote, adding it was "improbable" a rape would occur "on the 1-2 days of the month in which the woman would be fertile."
Mecklenburg's third reason seems to have been picked up by Akin. A woman exposed to the trauma of rape, Mecklenburg wrote, "will not ovulate even if she is 'scheduled' to."
The Nazis tested this hypothesis "by selecting women who were about to ovulate and sending them to the gas chambers, only to bring them back after their realistic mock-killing, to see what the effect this had on their ovulatory patterns. An extremely high percentage of these women did not ovulate."
Finally, Mecklenburg said it was likely that the rapists — because of "frequent masturbation" — were unlikely to be fertile themselves.
This whole thing reeks of planning.
The Dems needed a “Macacca” moment this election, and from what we are seeing, it looks like they paid $1.5Million for it.
He needed to use the word “violent” instead of “legitimate” and then things would have been easier to defend.
Let’s not let common sense FACTS get in the way of crucifying an innocent man, who misspoke.
I cannot believe we are even discussing this sh*t in a political campaign. This is so toxic to women it is ridiculous. Akin is an imbecile. Why couldn’t he just say “I oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest”, instead of pretending he is an Obstetrician?
As a politician, Akin should have simply referenced the study and not tried to explain it... simply state your convictions and move on. But no, he had to vomit his “knowledge” then vomit again to explain what he meant... not a politically smart cookie by today’s political standards. And I believe that’s the real rub here, Akin not minding his political P’s and Q’s, blurting out with lack of definition and style, very ugly looking, though I know what he was trying to express.
My thoughts exactly. Hell, I bet even Republicans will vote for McCaskill over this idiot.
This is why I question his judgment. He didn't do his homework. He needs a scripted answer on all the tough questions.
That would’ve been better. The way he phrased it, he implied that women who get pregnant from rape weren’t really raped. Not an easy implication to stomach.
Even substituting the word “violent” or “forcible”, I’m not sure it would’ve helped much, or that its worth differentiating. Implying that rapes that result in pregnancy weren’t “violent” or “forcible” doesn’t make the point any better.
He should’ve dropped that whole part of his answer. He doesn’t need to talk about how women’s bodies react to rape. It doesn’t matter; it doesn’t affect the answer; and, however he says it, it doesn’t help make his point.
SnakeDoc
Why are you helping the Democrats by trumpeting this embarrassing twaddle?
I believe it was the mental giant named Whoopi Goldberg who said that Hollywood director Roman Polanski's sexual encounter with a 13 year old girl "wasn't rape rape".
Spot-on!
Slack-jawed knuckle-dragging idiots like Akin only serve to perpetuate the left’s meme of “cold insensitive conservatives.”
Rape is rape and that should end the conversation.
See comment # 6... Politics is played out in the flash of a thought, the mind either accepting, rejecting or cringing in response ... Akin shows he lacks the understanding of that concept, he committed a political slash and burn on his own campaign, he made the minds of even conservatives cringe, and hurtfully so... exactly why McCaskill was paying some of her own campaign funds to get this guy elected in the primary. When something you say or do overrides any good you may be worth, its time to fade back into the woodwork and let someone else take up the fight.
Thanks for the assist.
Not so fast. Click on the link at post #14.
1-2 days of fertility??? That’s BS right there.
Memo to republicans: when your 10 points ahead keep your mouth shut. Before firing rhetorical weapons make sure they are not pointed at self.
You just cant be this stupid on the national stage as a republican. I dont care what your heart says.
Rhetorical self immolation to be sure....
Is he a “Slack-jawed knuckle-dragging idiot” because of the words he used or because he doesn’t want children, who come into being thru rape, to be murdered?
Just curious, if killing a child that resulted from rape is ok in your opinion, at what point does it become wrong? When the baby is 3 months along? 6,9? Partially born? The first week home from the hospital? What if a mother killed her 3 year old because of the horrible memories it caused her (conceived due to rape). Should that be allowed?
“Rape is rape and that should end the conversation.”
If that were true, wouldn’t it be the same in every state?
Well, it isn’t, and not all ‘rape’ is rape!
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