Free Republic

Dr. John C. Willke, an obstetrician who helped establish the modern anti-abortion movement — and whose idea that rape victims could resist conception was widely challenged — died on Friday at his home in Cincinnati. He was 89. His daughter Marie Meyers confirmed the death. Dr. Willke was a former president of the National Right to Life Committee, the nation’s oldest and largest anti-abortion organization. He and his wife, Barbara, a nurse, founded Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati in the early 1970s and lobbied against Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. They supported peaceful...

First, I'm a woman. (Seems to be an important qualification if one is to be allowed to have an opinion on "womens' bodies.")I'm used to being attacked by the harridans of the Left, who claim that if you're a pro-life, then you're NOT A WOMAN.But I'm not used to hearing conservatives knee-jerk to the idea that something is "idiotic" just because it's politically incorrect ... according to those same rabid harridans of the Left.I think, like Akin did, that a woman's endocrine system CAN sometimes "shut down" the process of conception, or implantation, as a result of traumatic stress suffered...

A physician and former president of the National Right to Life Committee, Willke was an “important surrogate” for Romney’s 2008 presidential bid. Willke is the oft-cited source of the theory that rape-related pregnancies are “rare.” The theory is sometimes used by antiabortion advocates to argue that abortion laws should not contain exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest. Willke believes that trauma caused by violent rape causes a woman’s reproductive system to shut down. He presents this belief as fact in educational materials, including a book about abortion and a website called abortionfacts.com. Willke’s views – and his...