Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey said that Todd Aikin was “partly right” in his analysis of why women can’t conceive after a rape.
After reading this, you will understand why the GOP deserves to be a minority party.
“[In] Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say, ‘I was raped’: A scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus nonlegitimate rape,” Gingrey said.
Gingrey, a co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, continued: “I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that.”
No, no, and no. In any state of the union, a 15-year old girl who gets pregnant has been “legitimately” raped. By law, the girl cannot consent. Perhaps Gingrey would feel a little differently about it being not so horrible if it was his 15 year old daughter?
It hardly matters. Aikin wasn’t referring to a 15 year old girl, he was referring to any woman and whether her rape was “legitimate” or not. And the fallacy that pregnancies from rape is rare is belied by the statistics. One study showed that more than 32,000 pregnancies occur in the US every year as a result of rape. There is no magical biological mechanism that prevents a woman who has been raped from conceiving. It is generally accepted that there is no statistical difference between women who conceive naturally or as a result of rape.
To say that Aikin — and Gingrey’s — views about a woman’s inability to become pregnant after rape have been discredited is an understatement. Gingrey is spreading an old wives tale — a misogynistic myth that pro-life advocates shamelessly keep spreading despite clear evidence that they are badly mistaken.
Gingrey backtracked on those comments, saying they were “misconstrued:”
“At a breakfast yesterday morning, I was asked why Democrats made abortion a central theme of the presidential campaign. I do not defend, nor do I stand by, the remarks made by Rep. Akin and Mr. [Richard] Mourdock. In my attempt to provide context as to what I presumed they meant, my position was misconstrued,” he said in the statement.
[...]
Gingrey noted he is an OB-GYN, then discussed what he tells infertile couples.
“And I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate,’” Gingrey said, according to the paper.
He continued: “So he was partially right wasn’t he? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman’s body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak.’
So, Gingrey “does not defend” Aikin but says he’s “partially right?” Sounds like he’s defending him to me. And then showing why Aikin was completely wrong after saying he was partially right? You wonder when Gingrey’s head stops spinning where he is going to end up.
This confused, rambling explanation is why the Republican party ought to have a mandatory seminar for every member of congress and candidate on what to say when confronted with this question about rape. The reason the media keeps asking Republicans about this is because many of them believe in fairy tales. It makes good copy and reveals some Republicans to be idiots.
It may be unfair they don’t ask Democrats the same questions, but who expects fairness from the media? Little children and some pro-life Republicans who believe in magic.
Whenever someone asks me about car repairs, I spout off about injectors, pumps and stuff. I need to just shut up and refer them to a mechanic. That doesn’t mean I can’t drive a car. You’re right though, candidates need to be trained to just shut up and not be manipulated by the MSM.
Phil Gingrey is my representative and I was present at the COC meeting. You could hear a barely muffled “Oh Shit!” from several people and a communal shaking of the head from those present.
Part of the problem is generational. If the GOP is to prosper it needs a new set of representatives that are at least 20 years younger.
ZZZZ.
Why Rick Moran deserves to be booted from the hallowed halls of PJMedia and adjoined to the hip of Time Magazine and Newsweek – tacit discipleship of Saul Alinsky and Moran’s glaring duplicity which just happens to slip out two to three times a week.
For every Phil Gingrey and Todd Aikin, I raise you a hundred Maxine Waters, Joe Bidens, Alcee Hastings, Harry Reids, Babs Boxers, Nancy Pelosis, and a CORPSEMAN “I’ll halve the deficit” Obama.
Matter of fact, I can practically go through the entire Dimocratic deck and find something far more monumentally fatuous and inane said and/or implemented by the majority party leadership.
Frankly Moran, you’re part of the problem – a lackey masquerading under the guise of wisdom, too gutless to take the real hypocrites and morons to task.
Kind of a David Frum light.
Well said Tex. Just consider Joe Biden, Al Gore and John Edwards.
The stupid, insensitive comments and deeds that come from Democrats far surpass those from the GOP.
It’s just that you never hear about them because of the major media are propagandists not journalists.
Moran ought to be focusing on that, for the simple reason you are never going to get perfect people running for office and with the number of elected offices and political appointees.
We should shrug off the media sins committed by our side and stay on the attack.
The appropriate response to t the legitimate rape comment would have been “he meant the kind that Bill Clinton commits”.
Would the media have quoted him? LOL
“We should shrug off the media sins committed by our side and stay on the attack.”
You want us to have the democrats low standards?
Brilliant! [/sarc]
only issue is that the Dems fatheads, liars and morons keep getting elected, while our fatheads, liars and morons get tossed to the side -
With regards to your dem list, I have a question. Though they’ve said some silly things relative to process and ideology, how many of them have said something that has so inflamed the conscience of such a large part of the american populace, across all party lines and genders?
“In any state of the union, a 15-year old girl who gets pregnant has been “legitimately” raped.”
Depends on the age of the boyfriend. Does a 15 year old boyfriend deserve a rape charge? NO.. Because the girlfriend would be just as culpable.
just saying
Doesn’t PJ Media have an editor? A minor lacks authority to enter into contracts in at least most states. The matter of rape is completely different. If a 15 year old consents to relations with another minor, under law, there is no rape. If a 15 year old consents to relations with an adult, that is what is called statory rape, because the adult is treated, by statute, as having committed rape regardless of the circumstances involved. Gee, who is more ignorant, Todd Akin or Rick Moran? p.s. Is Rick Moran someone’s nephew or brother-in-law?
I’m so hopeful that there will be a very long process of sniffing and airing out the “honest mindset” of the radical extremists of the evangelical tea party folks. Until that happens, the GOP has little chance of rebuilding its brand and message, or the hope of any sustainable victories going forward. That said, I’m most grateful for these three having the courage to state publically their extremist idocy. The down side, is that they’re find need to retreat to their fox holes and their new safeguarded rhetoric will deceive the people going forward, nevermind, what their bibles have to say about deceit and dishonesty.
We just studied this in writer’s group. This is an example of Red Herring:
“Introducing an irrelevant point, the result of which is to divert attention from the original issue.”
“Introducing an irrelevant point, the result of which is to divert attention from the original issue.”
Anything in which inflames the conscience of a large portion of americans across party lines and genders is hardly an irrelevant point. The early field of GOP tea party radicals set the points of social religious views and issues as their discussion very early on. If you recall, of their several social issues, they brought to the forefront early, was reversing Roe v Wade while, the overwhelming vast majority of the people across all party lines was fixated on jobs, the economy and the national debt. Add to that, what was going on in the tea party controlled states, that brought even more negative attention to the tea party causes and messaging.
The tea party idocy was kept on the national marque by the tea Party candidates and their advocates all the way through the electoral process until Romney abandoned them in the general debates. The tea party controlled states continued the march introducing nearly 1,100 social reformation bills through 2012.
More than a few of us in the GOP feel the evangelical extremist tea party cost us an election that was ours for the taking before the field of candidates was developed. It was all downhill after the candidates announced and began their messaging — all tea party except for Ronmeny and Paul. How can anybody legitimately declare the idiocy of the tea party candidates messaging to be a red herring in discussions today? Not even a week past since yet another one of them highlighted the news with still more tea party idiocy in front of a friendly audience that left them gasping in shock.
Granted there are endless red herring headlines on PJM but I really don’t think this particular one I was addressing in my comments happens to be one of them. As long as the tea party attempts to overthrow the traditional GOP I think they and their messages remains a matter of national discussion. I’m pretty sure if these kinds of discussions were about a group of extrmists messaging inside the democrat party, you would deny they were a red herrings.
Poor Rick. I remember here in this comment section plenty of people agreeing with Todd Aikin and whining about how unfair it is that he wasn’t totally supported by his party.
Are you really comfortable with this crowd Moran?
Hey, is that a land mine? It kinda looks like the one that blew up under Todd Aikin, but I’m not sure.
I know, let me step on it and find out. Better stomp good and hard, to be certain. Yeah, that’s the ticket.