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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTodd Akin's Party: More Than 40 Republican Candidates Oppose Abortion In Cases Of Rape, Incest
Todd Akin's Party: More Than 40 Republican Candidates Oppose Abortion In Cases Of Rape, Incesthttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/todd-akin-abortion-rape-incest_n_1819201.html
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) faced scorn and ridicule from members of his own party this week after expressing his belief that rape victims don't need to have access to abortion because "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancies. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called his comments "wrong, offensive, and indefensible" and was just one in a chorus of Republicans calling on Akin to drop his U.S. Senate bid.
While many Republicans may not have used Akin's blunt wording, his sentiments are not unusual in the GOP. Just two days after he made his remarks, the party voted to incorporate strict anti-abortion language into its platform, with no exception for pregnancies that result from rape or incest.
Additionally, there are more than 40 House and Senate candidates besides Akin -- including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the man who has been tapped as Mitt Romney's vice presidential running mate -- who want to ban abortion access even for women who have been victims of rape or incest.
Each election cycle, the political action committee Republican National Coalition for Life submits questionnaires to GOP candidates about their positions on choice issues and then endorses candidates who advocate a strict no-abortion platform. Selected candidates must be "unconditionally pro-life" and "recognize the inherent right to life of every innocent human being, from conception until natural death, without discrimination."
Xipe Totec
(44,001 posts)HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)Not THEIR wives, daughters, etc. They would get them out of the country to have an abortion,
OmahaBlueDog
(10,000 posts)Women of means will go to Europe.
Women of lesser means will go to the butcher.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)OmahaBlueDog
(10,000 posts)I'm not saying that many women don't intellectually understand why defending legal abortion is important. However, fewer and fewer living American women can remember the horrors of illegal abortion because the number of living women who were of child bearing age prior to 1973 is in decline. Even fewer women can remember a time when "The Pill" was not legal or readily available.
I'm too young to remember most of that, frankly. However, I've heard first hand and secondhand accounts from the family of what abortion was like in the 30s, 40s, 50s. It tended to work as well as other medical procedures performed by amateurs/semi amateurs -- which is to say sometimes.
The real lack of understanding I see is that, barring a successful trial of a male "Pill" (which may or may not be in the future), a law or amendment declaring that "life begins at conception" not only could end legal abortion, but could also ilegalize any form of birth control in which an egg could be fertilized, but prevented from implantation. This would also mean that the IUD (not as popular) and the Pill (wildly popular) could suddenly also become illegal. That would leave only less reliable chemical and barrier method controls, or semi-permanent solutions such as vasectomy or tubal ligation (I can hear conservatives screaming "or abstinence!" My only response is that this has neer proven to be a reliable, long term solution).
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)dimbear
(6,271 posts)Women are property to the Republicans and their lives don't matter.