GOP can't avoid Akin - or abortion
They phoned. They wrote. They rebuked him publicly from coast to coast. They cut off funding and support.
Yet Republican U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin didn’t cave. He refused to withdraw by the initial 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, sticking with his November race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.
His choice means women’s health and abortion remain top issues, causing a debate the GOP had hoped to avoid.
Akin, who says he misspoke when he said “legitimate rape” victims can prevent pregnancy, has a long voting record against abortion in any circumstance.
Akin also is in line with U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, with whom he co-sponsored abortion legislation, in favoring an amendment providing rights to fetuses at the moment of conception. This effectively stops all abortions, including in the cases of rape or incest.
For Republicans objecting to Akin’s misstatements, it gets more complicated at their national convention next week when the final party platform is adopted.
Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and now-running mate Ryan are on record in support of abortion in cases of rape. Yet, the proposed platform espouses the no-exceptions position held by Akin. In addition, Romney’s positions on abortion have ranged from an early pro-choice posture to the current promises to defund Planned Parenthood and ban abortions.
President Barack Obama clearly stated the difference this week. For him, a rape is a rape. And in a welcome addition, he said it’s wrong for predominantly male lawmakers to make these kinds of health care decisions for women.
Amen.
While the anti-government, free-the-individual GOP often argues against government interference, they are all in for government control and limited access on abortion and birth control.
McCaskill’s seat is considered critical to continued control of the Senate by Democrats, which is why Republicans piled on Akin after his false and offensive comments. She also represents a strong women’s voice in the male-dominated halls of power.
The real heat of the campaign is still ahead. We expect pro-McCaskill ads will continue to remind voters of Akin’s foray into false and inflammatory comments on the mythical biological powers of raped women.
What’s no myth is the power of the women’s vote. Women’s health issues are about to get bumped up on the national agenda. It’s time.
Mark Hastert
10 months agoIt’s an impossible situation for all concerned. Akin and Paul Ryan are joined at the hip on every abortion issue as cosponsors. The GOP can’t disavow Akin’s positions too strongly and yet Akin’s statement was so ignorant, so offensive that they can’t embrace it. The party has become so fractious that I doubt they can hold together much longer. Like the Dems in the 70’s the Repubs may be entering the wilderness.
Rick Adams
10 months agoThe thing that makes this so interesting is that Akin let us see what the rest of the GOP thinks but trys not to let non-Republicans know they think . How exactly do women lay next to these men ?
Kent Mueller
10 months agoAnd the Kansas City Star continues to mislead with its wrong description of Republicans. Once again, the Star says they are “anti-government”. That is so far from the truth that the Star has to know they are misleading (lying?) when they continue to say that.
To be anti-government means to be an anarchist. If the Star is going to continue to use the anti-government label for conservatives then they need to come out and call conservatives anarchists. The better solution, of course, would be for the Star to stop their crazy labeling.
To believe in a government that is in line with the Tenth Amendment is neither anti-government, nor anarchy. Star? Please start to get that right in the future.
Mark Robertson
10 months agoThe Republican Party wins big on the abortion issue. A life in the womb deserves life no matter how conceived. When attending the March for Life in Washington D.C., I see over 300,000 pro-lifers, and less than 20, yes 20, not 20 thousand, pro-aborts. There is a new generation of young ardent pro-lifers. At least 2 thirds of the marchers are college age or less.
And yes, Akin messed up in his effort ot defend life in the womb after rape, but there is no doubt that he is a very strong pro-lifer. McCaskill is for the right to kill children in the womb. She thus is also a fraudulent Catholic as well. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence