Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo) appears to have a long-standing issue with women and reproductive issues. This video from 2008 shows Akin informing the Congress that it is a “common practice” for women “who are not actually pregnant” to get abortions. While he has claimed that he just used one word incorrectly in saying that women can physically stop themselves from getting pregnant from “legitimate rape,” this tape shows a certain pattern that is quite odd.
Previously, Akin stated:
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. . . But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
Now that Akin has refused to step aside and Republicans are past the failsafe point to replacing him, Democrats are releasing the greatest hits from his past. This one is a doozy.
Akin explains that the abortionists are just like terrorists. Curiously, he states terrorists want to take away your right to make your own decisions and then call pro-choose doctors terrorists. He then adds this interesting factoid:
You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other lawbreaking. The not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things. The misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die. All of these things are common practice, and all that information is available for America.
The common practice of aborting non-pregnant women will come as something of a surprise to many, particularly when Akin previously explained how rape victims can prevent themselves from getting pregnant.
What is truly amazing is that McCaskill is so unpopular in Missouri that the race remains relatively close despite such statements.
Kudos: Elaine M.
rafflaw:
you might be surprised, if you can recover 10 million or more if you are harmed, that is between you, your lawyer, the judge and jury.
In a free society why would you place restrictions on claims?
Raff, our dog would probably like him. His shoe would make a good place for the dog to pee.
Gene H:
Aristotle would disagree, there is at least one case, the one I alluded to, of a woman showing signs of pregnancy without being pregnant. So the improbable is possible and therefore probable.
He says it much better than I just did but you get the idea.
We can argue how ofter it happens but it is not a fallacy to state the claim.
McCaskill campaign published their latest internal poll now which is unusual in that an internal poll is meant only to guide and set strategy/tactics within the campaign itself, but the reason for publishing it is obvious when one looks at the numbers.
The poll reported to the campaign that McCaskill is leading Akin 50 percent to 41 percent, with 7 percent undecided. She leads among women by 18 points, and among independents by 23 points.
She waited till now for the same reason that the campaign did not go after Akin for his “legitimate rape” comments until after Sept. 25th which was the deadline for Akin to take his name off the ballot allowing the GOP to appoint a stronger replacement candidate.
Her campaign purposely kept the internal poll under wraps while claiming that the race was “tight” for the same reason.
I don’t like McCaskill at all but one does have to give grudging admiration to smart strategy.
Keeping Akin in the race benefits McCaskill of course, but it also benefits other Democrats in tight races around the country.
Th Republicans made a huge mistake in not getting that bozo to back out of the race.
shano,
that is an amazing and scary decision. Does Akin have relatives in Conn.?
Swarthmore,
I agree that McCaskill is way too Blue for me, but when compared to Akin, there is no contest.
And of course, if you are disabled and do not fight a rapist, that is proof of consensual sex:
From ThinkProgress:
In a 4-3 ruling Tuesday afternoon, the Connecticut State Supreme Court overturned the sexual assault conviction of a man who had sex with a woman who “has severe cerebral palsy, has the intellectual functional equivalent of a 3-year-old and cannot verbally communicate.”
The Court held that, because Connecticut statutes define physical incapacity for the purpose of sexual assault as “unconscious or for any other reason. . . physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act,” the defendant could not be convicted if there was any chance that the victim could have communicated her lack of consent.
Since the victim in this case was capable of “biting, kicking, scratching, screeching, groaning or gesturing,” the Court ruled that that victim could have communicated lack of consent despite her serious mental deficiencies:
When we consider this evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, and in a manner that is consistent with the state’s theory of guilt at trial, we, like the Appellate Court, ‘are not persuaded that the state produced any credible evidence that the [victim] was either unconscious or so uncommunicative that she was physically incapable of manifesting to the defendant her lack of consent to sexual intercourse at the time of the alleged sexual assault.’
The courts are as nutty as the politicians these days.
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/01/3843752/mccaskill-internal-poll-shows.html Her poll shows her up by nine. Independents are going her way. McCaskill is too much of a blue dog for me but the state of Missouri has become much more conservative of late. The balance in the senate could depend on a victory by the pro-choice McCaskill.
OS,
no decent dog would be interested in Akin. He is a dangerous idiot.
Seem loopy? Come on Bron, Akin just doesn’t seem loopy. He is off the charts. The scary part about it is that there are alot of Republicans who have no intention of caring about women, not just Akin.
Bron,
If you distrust doctors so much and are so concerned about the 98,000 who are killed via malpractice, I am sure you are a strong supporter of tort actions against malfeasant doctors.
Bron,
According to Akin, doctors aborting non-existent fetuses are almost as common as McDonald’s hamburgers. While it is certainly possible that almost any kind of medical anomaly can happen, in fact he is talking about events so far out on the tail of the curve they cannot even be reliably measured. Probably on the order of twenty standard deviations from the mean.
Akin is an ideologue and ignoramus to boot. I can find no redeeming qualities in him myself, but maybe his dog likes him. If he has a dog.
Bron,
Possible in not the same thing as probable. That’s the fallacy of appeal to probability.
Elaine/Gene:
I read an first person narrative by a woman who was not pregnant but had a yolk sac visible on the ultra sound and everything else was positive. They did a d and c. There was no fetus.
All I am saying is that it is possible, I am not supporting Aiken in his views which seem rather loopy.
Elaine:
I dont trust doctors for squat, many suck and you take your life into your hands when you go into a hospital. There are approximately 98,000 fatalities in the US due to medical malpractice in any year.
Medical Diplomas dont kill people, doctors do.
As one doctor I trust said, “you dont have to be smart to get into medical school.”
Bron,
I think doctors can determine if a woman is pregnant or not. They do know about “lady parts” and how they work–unlike Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin.
Bron,
I’m pretty sure that’s what ultrasounds are for. The gestational sac is visible at five weeks. I’ve never heard of a false pregnancy leading to an abortion.
Otteray,
There’s always more where Todd Akin is concerned:
Todd Akin’s Unique View of Women, Cont’d.
By Charles P. Pierce
10/3/12
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/todd-akin-climate-control-video-13336168
Excerpt:
The race for a seat in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body representing the state of Missouri is still a horse race between a pain-in-the-ass Democratic “centrist” named Claire McCaskill, and a guy who not only thinks that ladies have secret sauce in their ladyparts that keeps them from getting pregnant after a “legitimate rape,” but also, it appears, believes that women are essentially reasonably priced roadside chain motels for zygote-Americans:
[VIDEO]
Again, that’s:
“Now an embryo may seem like some scientific or laboratory term, but in fact the embryo contains the unique information that defines a person. All you add is food and climate control, and some time, and the embryo becomes you or me.”
So, ladies, there you have it. Keep your thermostats in good working order, and provide a complimentary hot breakfast in the lobby every morning, and Todd Akin will give you four stars in the next AAA Breeder’s Guide.
How do you get to be this old and still be this ignorant? It can’t all be religion’s fault.
About the time you think Akin and his cohorts cannot go any lower, they get a new shipment of shovels.
Some women have false “pregnancies”.
So I can imagine if the hormones are right and she hasnt had a period for 6 weeks a doctor might make a legitimate mistake.
Aiken certainly can step in it though. Yeesh.
This explains in one way why congress is so inept. Stupidity such as this is present. And the fault lies with the voters for returning these idiots to office.
Brian Lamb has never gotten the proper credit for all he’s done. I admit I was a C-Span addict.