How Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

[madfloridian]

Todd Akin's remarks about how a woman won't get pregnant with "legitimate rape" have really gotten attention.

This is from The Talking Points Memo today:

How Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

Quote:Earlier today, Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) claimed that “legitimate rape” does not often lead to pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” This is not the first time the biologically challenged senate candidate tried to minimize the impact of rape. Last year, Akin joined with GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as two of the original co-sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill which, among other things, introduced the country to the bizarre term “forcible rape.”

Federal law prevents federal Medicaid funds and similar programs from paying for abortions. Yet the law also contains an exception for women who are raped. The bill Akin and Ryan cosponsored would have narrowed this exception, providing that only pregnancies arising from “forcible rape” may be terminated. Because the primary target of Akin and Ryan’s effort are Medicaid recipients — patients who are unlikely to be able to afford an abortion absent Medicaid funding — the likely impact of this bill would have been forcing many rape survivors to carry their rapist’s baby to term. Michelle Goldberg explains who Akin and Ryan would likely target:

Under H.R. 3, only victims of “forcible rape” would qualify for federally funded abortions. Victims of statutory rape—say, a 13-year-old girl impregnated by a 30-year-old man—would be on their own. So would victims of incest if they’re over 18. And while “forcible rape” isn’t defined in the criminal code, the addition of the adjective seems certain to exclude acts of rape that don’t involve overt violence—say, cases where a woman is drugged or has a limited mental capacity. “It’s basically putting more restrictions on what was defined historically as rape,” says Keenan.

Although a version of this bill passed the GOP-controlled House, the “forcible rape” language was eventually removed due to widespread public outcry.

For an interesting read try the twitter trending page on #legitimaterape.
https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23legitimaterape

It's funny, sad, and outrageous. It makes me wonder how our country got this far along the road to extremism.

Oh, wait, now I remember. The DLC/Third Way policies of being complicit in order to build bipartisanship.....that did it. It shut down opposition for decades. That's all it took for this rabid extremism to take hold.

[Code Name D]

What next? Fording pregnant rape victims to marry their attackers?

[c387]

(08-19-2012 10:02 PM)madfloridian Wrote:  Todd Akin's remarks about how a woman won't get pregnant with "legitimate rape" have really gotten attention.

This is from The Talking Points Memo today:

How Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

Quote:Earlier today, Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) claimed that “legitimate rape” does not often lead to pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” This is not the first time the biologically challenged senate candidate tried to minimize the impact of rape. Last year, Akin joined with GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as two of the original co-sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill which, among other things, introduced the country to the bizarre term “forcible rape.”

Federal law prevents federal Medicaid funds and similar programs from paying for abortions. Yet the law also contains an exception for women who are raped. The bill Akin and Ryan cosponsored would have narrowed this exception, providing that only pregnancies arising from “forcible rape” may be terminated. Because the primary target of Akin and Ryan’s effort are Medicaid recipients — patients who are unlikely to be able to afford an abortion absent Medicaid funding — the likely impact of this bill would have been forcing many rape survivors to carry their rapist’s baby to term. Michelle Goldberg explains who Akin and Ryan would likely target:

Under H.R. 3, only victims of “forcible rape” would qualify for federally funded abortions. Victims of statutory rape—say, a 13-year-old girl impregnated by a 30-year-old man—would be on their own. So would victims of incest if they’re over 18. And while “forcible rape” isn’t defined in the criminal code, the addition of the adjective seems certain to exclude acts of rape that don’t involve overt violence—say, cases where a woman is drugged or has a limited mental capacity. “It’s basically putting more restrictions on what was defined historically as rape,” says Keenan.

Although a version of this bill passed the GOP-controlled House, the “forcible rape” language was eventually removed due to widespread public outcry.

For an interesting read try the twitter trending page on #legitimaterape.
https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23legitimaterape

It's funny, sad, and outrageous. It makes me wonder how our country got this far along the road to extremism.

Oh, wait, now I remember. The DLC/Third Way policies of being complicit in order to build bipartisanship.....that did it. It shut down opposition for decades. That's all it took for this rabid extremism to take hold.

Republicans are rape enablers. They are pro-rape, anti-female.

[ima_sinnic]

I like that meme, c387.

let it go viral: Vote for the pro-rape party!
or, A vote for Romney is a vote for legalized rape!

[NowIknowWhy]

And this is where triangulation has led us...especially in a world where Republicans don't back down and don't negotiate.

Straight down into the path where left is right and right is so fucking insane it's laughable but for some reason they still have legitimacy.

[zacherystaylor]

Mainstream Republicans have been taken over by the lunatic fringe. If they don't steal election they won't be in power anywhere much longer. But I would have thought that would have already happened. Or have they already been stealing elections?

[Enthusiast]

Akin is a Talibangelist. Or is that Teavangelical?

Where do these people get off? And Ryan cosponsored. Yet Ryan was considered "mainstream" enough to be vice-presidential candidate.

"Forcible rape"? WTF? What other kind of rape is there?

[tonysam]

That's an old husband's tale. It's been around for years. I'd heard that silliness long ago:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arch...cy/261303/

[tonysam]

(08-20-2012 10:08 AM)Enthusiast Wrote:  Akin is a Talibangelist. Or is that Teavangelical?

Where do these people get off? And Ryan cosponsored. Yet Ryan was considered "mainstream" enough to be vice-presidential candidate.

"Forcible rape"? WTF? What other kind of rape is there?

"Forcible rape" is an old term. That's to be distinguished from statutory rape, which is consensual between the parties but violates some statute on "age of consent." Typically the latter charges are brought by irate parents who disapprove of a daughter's older boyfriend (usually it is an older male-younger female) for one reason or another.

If a stranger rapes an underage girl, it's still "forcible rape." It's not statutory rape.