Rape fantasies from Mourdock, Akin and Ryan
Yael T. AbouhalkahIt’s amazing, really: Three men pontificating on how women, after being raped, should be forced to have their rapists’ babies.
It’s also very frightening - frightening that tea partier Richard Mourdock of Indiana is considered to be a serious U.S. Senate candidate after saying “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
It’s scary that Claire McCaskill of Missouri is having to spend millions of dollars to convince Missourians to re-elect her and not Republican Todd (“legitimate rape“) Akin.
And it’s especially scary that - if Mitt Romney is elected - that would make Paul (“forcible rape“) Ryan the vice president.
President Barack Obama appropriately was in full attack mode Wednesday, once again having to tell audiences that “rape is rape.”
And women’s groups found yet another legitimate opening to attack the Romney/Ryan ticket, as well as Mourdock, after his insensitive and ugly remarks.
Overall, it’s incredible that - in 2012 - Republicans with such backward views as Mourdock, Akin and Ryan are running for office.
And, again, it’s frightening that all three of them have chances to win.
Johnathon Busby
6 months, 4 weeks agoThat’s the socially conservative movement; they want to ensure you have no choice in your own body. They deny there’s such a thing as legitimate rape (see Akin), suggesting women’s bodies can fend off such a pregnancy. They deny health of the mother, as Joe (forget last name) recently claimed. In short, social conservatives want to control your decisions, because they don’t think you can make your own choices.
But wait, there’s more! As they mandate your sexual activities and reproductive decisions, the other side of their forked tongues spill lies about small government and minimum interference in the lives of private citizens!
Heck, by Mourdock’s reasoning, it must be God’s will when a child is molested. After all, it happened, and if it wasn’t God’s will, God would have prevented it. When the floods come, must be gods will everyone died. When a terrorist attack occurs, must be God’s will, by Mourdock’s “logic”.
Social conservatives; an utterly worthless batch of hypocrites.
Mark Hastert
6 months, 4 weeks agoConservatives are free to believe whatever they wish and to conduct themselves accordingly. However, these are religious beliefs not even universally held by all religious people or even all Christians.
The establishment clause expressly prohibits their imposing their religious beliefs on others.
Mark Robertson
6 months, 4 weeks agoMark Hastert, is saying that a 3 year old should not be killed, imposing religious beliefs on others. If not, at what point do religious beliefs start being imposed? Is it a location question? If someone says that it is wrong to kill a child the day before they are born, is that imposing religious beliefs on someone? If someone says that it is wrong to kill a child 1 minute after child is out of womb, is that imposing religious beliefs on someone? If someone says it is wrong to kill a child 1 minute before birth, is that imposing religious beliefs on someone. If someone says that it is wrong to kill a child who is partially born or out of the birth canal, is that imposing religious beliefs on someone? Or was President Obama forcing his beliefs on someone when he defended the right to kill a child who survived an abortion? Thank you. Mark Robertson Independnce
Chas Holman
6 months, 4 weeks ago“Romney campaign stands by Mourdock”.
Women.. For Goodness sake.. WAKE UP..
If ever there WAS a sign from God, this would be one of them.. These ‘men’ who are completely uneducated and ignorant about a woman’s body, want to be in charge of the laws that Govern YOUR body. There is no other way to put it. Welcome to the year 1642 where science and medicine take a back seat. Don’t even dare mention the earth revolves around the sun.
The Governor has said if he wins the Presidency that he would sign legislation if presented, that bans abortion. And you have GOP senators and Congressmen who have now said that women who get raped have no medical worries as they can’t get pregnant if they are ‘really’ raped, and now with Mourdoch, it is ‘God’s Gift’.
Seriously..
Vote like YOUR life, your daughter’s life and health depends on it.. It’s not playtime anymore, they are playing for keeps and total control.Have no doubt, this is ‘the big grab’.
Mark Robertson
6 months, 4 weeks agoMourdock, Akin and Ryan have taken a true and consistent pro-life stance. I totally agree with them. A child conceived by rape is a totally innocent child. Life is life. And what if a claim of rape is made, and then later, after the abortion, it is confessed that it was a false charge of rape? Tough luck for that child. Principled stands are often not easy to take. Mourdock, Akin and Ryan should actually be applauded for their stands. And actually they take the same stand on life that the Catholic Church does. The Catholic Church has been around for 2000 years. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
JR Beillenhouser
6 months, 4 weeks agoYael is prejudiced against the religious. Why don’t you be a brave man right now and condemn all catholics who believe the same thing.
George Hunsucker
Northland
6 months, 4 weeks agoSomething for you libs to contemplate as you try to make the elections about vaginas…
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-poll-romney-erases-obama-advantage-among-women-071129692—election.html
Thinking women realize that Romney and the R’s offer them and their families a way out of the Hell hole the big 0 has put America in with his porkulus spending, TRILLION dollar deficits, 0’care and of course such antics as Benghazi-gate.
And jimmy II has the gall to call Romney a BS’r—how “presidential”…
the big 0, what a “leader”
George Hunsucker
Northland
6 months, 4 weeks agoAnd of course Ms. Roe realizes how far we have come….
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/10/jane-roe-of-roe-v-wade-airs-anti-obama-ad-in-florida-video/
JR Beillenhouser
6 months, 4 weeks agoChas Holman - hyperbole as usual from a liberal. Run away. The sky is falling. We will all perish.
Johnathon Busby
6 months, 4 weeks agoOh, and George, I thought the election was supposed to be about the economy. Funny how Willard doesn’t harp about that anymore… so… who changed what the election is about?
Aimee Patton
Overland Park
6 months, 4 weeks agoMy big question on this is if these politicians believe that pregnancy from rape is what God intended to have happen, then why if a woman’s life is in danger isn’t that also something that God intended to have happen? Why save her life over the baby’s life? Why is abortion ok in that instance, but wrong in all others? This whole argument has no place in politics and defining what “God intended” is pretty arrogant if you ask me. Keep abortion safe and legal and let God be the judge if you are so religious.
Mark Hastert
6 months, 4 weeks agoMr Robinson, You need to make the distinction between murder which essentially all religions and even non-religions hold to be a crime, the beliefs about “justified” killings (e.g. death sentence, self defense, war, etc.) that vary widely by religion, and the narrowly held belief about abortions held by you, the Republican Party, and others. Your belief has a religious basis not ascribed to by even a plurality of Americans. Not even all Catholics believe the narrow interpretation used by the church hierarchy.
The answer is probably somewhere between never and always but it won’t be found in anybody’s holy book and nobody’s holy book, not the Bible, the Koran, the Kojiki, Tao Te Ching, or the Talmud should dictate law for all.
Phil Cardarella
6 months, 4 weeks agoFirst off, if you are hanging around women who “use multiple abortions as their form of birth control”, you need a new set of les masochistic friends. Contrary to the rightwing fantasy, abortions are not so pleasurable an experience that women choose to have one to break the monotony of a dull afternoon. Nor should we assume that women — such flighty creatures, afterall — opt to carry a pregnancy for 8 1/2 months and suddenly decide to seek an abortion for frivilous reasons. Another fantasy. Sometimes you wonder if these folks have gotten out much to meet actual women.
Oh, and while the Catholic Church has been around (more or less) for 2000 years? Its teaching on abortion is much more recent.
Of course, everyone is entitled to their own irrational religious beliefs. Hence the existence of the word “faith”. But the issue is NOT how crazy these guys are. It is how ARROGANT these guys are to think that it is any of their collective business what a woman chooses to do with her body.
These guys not only believe that a single-celled fertilized egg is a “person” with rights superior to any of the woman in which it is located, but they want to use the law (you know, cops, handcuffs, prisons, etc) to impose that belief on those who do not share it. Coercion, not conversion.
And — while they try to underplay the truth — their “person at conception” position not only bars abortion but the Morning After pill and most safe and effective means of contraception (other than condoms) because those act to prevent the “person” from attaching to the uterus.
Anyone who believes in personal autonomy — the right of a person to control their own body in a free society — should be outraged. Ultimately, whether the unemployment rate is 8.1% or 7.8% makes far less difference to the lives of American women — and men — than the tyranny they would impose.
Wes McCoy
6 months, 4 weeks agoInteresting…only ONE comment from a woman.
I have a good friend that was raped 22 years ago. I have met and talked with tens of thousands of people over the years and she is the ONLY one I ever heard of a rape pregnancy. As a devout Catholic, she did not get an abortion.
She watched the boy grow, blossom into an exceptional HS athlete (if not a very good student) and is now an officer in the Marines. He was, has been and is a blessing to her and her entire family, and they would never have wanted it any other way.
Jane Roe, of Roe V. Wade, appears in a commercial in Florida. She states she was duped by radical feminists into lying that she was raped so they could have a test case. Her comment that “Since then 50 million babies have been killed, and I have to live with that” chilled me. And she adds “A vote for Barack Obama is a vote against humanity”
Just a thought–wonder if we might look at the FACTS—the depression, guilt and sometimes suicide that follows abortion. And wonder if we might see how its been incredibly politicized by creepers.
But then..when did the Star care about facts?
Mark Robertson
6 months, 4 weeks agoPhil, your claim that the Catholic Church’s teaching on abortion(and contraception) is much more recent than the beginning of the Catholic Church, 2000 years ago, is incorrect. The Didache, a Catholic teaching document from the late first, early second century, clearly states that abortion is murder.(Thus wrong.) “You shall not practice birth control, you shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill what is begotten.” What else are you wrong about?
And Mark H., why does it matter what churches think. I thought it didn’t matter to you what churches think. By the way, it doesn’t matter what Catholics think. Catholics think and do all sorts of things. There are even Catholics in jail. What matters is what the Catholic Church teaches. And Mark, you didn’t answer any of my specific questions. I can understand why. You couldn’t and still have your views. Your response is convoluted and very defensive. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Mark Hastert
6 months, 4 weeks agoYou folks practice your religion and let the rest of us practice ours. Many of these same commentors have railed about banning Sharia law but would impose the right wing Christian equivalent upon others. The Republican Party platform, Paul Ryan, Akin, and Mourdock, would ban all choice in all cases for all women for narrow strictly religious reasons and the establishment clause says that’s unconstitutional. Keep your cafeteria biblical interpretations to yourselves.
Mr Robinson, the Catholic church taught that the sun orbits around the earth, it elected murderous Borgia Popes, it sold “get out of hell free” indulgences, it tortured and burned people at the stake for the crime of reading the Bible in their own language. It is right at times and wrong at times.
Johnathon Busby
6 months, 4 weeks agoIndeed. The folks who most oppose (fear) Islam would happily (eagerly) institute a Christian version there-of in this nation. There would be only a few differences, the similarities however would be without end. Opposition to education, oppression of women, laws derived from their religion, etc.
And yes, Mark has it spot on; the Catholic church has said and done a lot of foolish and/or evil things in its history. It’s support of an issue in no way suggests the rectitude of the issue.
Steve Alleman
Kansas City
6 months, 4 weeks agoIf your reason for opposing abortion is that you believe that “life begins at conception,” then you MUST oppose abortion in cases of rape to be logically consistent. This is why pregnancy as a result of rape is a good ‘reductio ad absurdum’ for the anti-choice folks — it reduces their position to one that most people find absurd (forcing a raped woman to bear the child of the rapist). I would hope that politicians like Akin and Mourdock spouting absurd statements would lead to a clearer understanding that the “life begins at conception” crowd are extremists who must be opposed before they impose other absurd laws on the rest of us.
JR Beillenhouser
6 months, 4 weeks agoWow, the anti catholics sure are out there.
Let’s see, I know of no christian group that is for female circumcision. I know of know christian group that is opposed to education, is not for education of woman, or oppresses woman. I do see that with radical islamists. Johnathon “Got Nothing” gets more outrageous by the second. It’s funny they give a free pass to the islamists, but hold christians to an entirely different standard. Many in western Europe did quite the same and they now are finding out that they are not equal.
Regarding the sun orbiting around the sun. Many non religious in those days believed that there was a sun god. What really does any of this have to do with anything? That’s ancient history. In many parts of the world at that time, non christians cannibalized their enemies and believed all types of crazy things by today’s standards.
I can cherry pick also. Let’s talk about the non religious. In the last century alone, Communists and Marxists targeted religious and killed over 100 million people because of their religious and political beliefs. These same people believed in Lysenkoism and Eugenics. The Catholic Church in the Spanish Inquisition was said to have killed a 32000 over a 350 year period. Tragic of course, but small considering the amount of press it gets compared to the athiests that killed about 3125 times that in about 30% of the time.
Christianity has been the greatest force for civilization ever. It’s doctrines have given us western civilization including individualism, human rights, and freedom. It’s that very freedom that allows people such as the twin pinheads above to criticize it. Had they grown up in other parts of the world, they’d find out what real oppression is.
But this is really about one topic, as usual. Abortion is a god to those who don’t believe in anything else. They claim to be scientific, yet fail to understand the most basic principle of biology. They claim to do it for the good of the child, but actually take away any possibility that that child will ever have. Some on these boards thought that a judgement should be made about whether babies are human as they are not knowing. Quite a slippery slope. Play God much?
Don’t worry, you can be happy, you’ll still get to kill your babies. Even if Roe vs Wade was overturned, it would become a states issue. And yes, “Got Nothing” the Catholic church he Catholic church has said and done a lot of foolish and/or evil things in its history. But standing up for the most helpless is not one of them. For someone who is against judging others, you are pretty good at it.
Mark Hastert
6 months, 4 weeks agoThank you JR, for demonstrating why we must adhere to the first amendment and not establish religion in our law. You may not realize it but that we’re in complete agreement. You would no more allow a Muslim, Jew, Taoist, or Secular Humanist to make their beliefs into law that I would yours. That’s why we have the first amendment. So enjoy your rights and respect everyone else’s too. Let’s not let religion become God.
Laurie Allen Brock
6 months, 4 weeks agoPolitical parties need this issue to keep driving a wedge between the middle class majority, obscuring issues that might otherwise unite us, so we won’t see it go away anytime soon. If we were truly serious about eliminating abortion, we would look at research such as Washington University’s study just released that showed over 3 years, free birth control resulted in abortions reduced by more than half, and teen pregnancies cut by 80%. But then that requires a faith in science. Arrogant attitudes such as we’ve seen from Akin and Mourdock prohibit productive discussion. The GOP doesn’t need to worry about “taking the country back” from the Democrats so much as they need to take it back first from their own extremists, and as long as they allow this influence to stand front and center, moderate independents are going to steer clear of them in general.
Rachel Elaine Hines
6 months, 4 weeks agoThe decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy rightfully belongs with the woman involved and no one else. The Supreme Court ruled on this nearly forty years ago and has not been reversed. That is because most people realize the fundamental right of a woman to make such a decision.
If you think abortion is wrong, you are entitled to your opinion. If a woman believes abortion is wrong, she is free never to have one. If a man believes abortion is wrong, better take responsibility for making sure you don’t get a woman pregnant unless you have both decided to raise a child together.
Since most of you are men who have posted to this story, none of you will ever be in the shoes of a woman with an unwanted pregnancy. I have, and it’s a terrible place to be. In my case, nature ended the pregnancy, but if it hadn’t happened that way, I would have had an abortion and been grateful for the freedom to do so. Keep your nose in your own business.
Johnathon Busby
6 months, 4 weeks agoI give no free pass to Islamists, Junior, but I live next door to Christians. So they’re who receive the majority of my attention. Your suggestion that Christianity is the greatest driving force in history is simply inaccurate; the rate of learning and prosperity spiked during the enlightenment, when we finally put the Church in it’s place; history and mythology.
Abortion is not about being good for the child, it’s about an individual’s right to make their own choices. Something conservatives claim to support, when they’re not busy opposing it. If the focus were truly a reduction in abortions, we’d hand out more condoms; but the people who oppose abortions oppose condoms too. In the end they want you forced into their perceived “right” way of living.
In summary, Christianity has some positives and some negatives, but should not be used as a source or evidence in legal or policy debate. Simply stated, if you oppose abortion, don’t have one.
And thanks for the official nickname, Junior, always nice to gain a fan of my work.