When Tea Is The Wrong Kind Of Party: Mistaken Akin Claims Of Legitimate Rape

Cross posted @ the Atheist Oasis

Is it me, or when election time rolls around, do the Republican crazies seem to surge during an election year?

Witness if you will: Congressscum Akin has come out with the…most witless, stupidest, misogynistic crap yet:

In an August 19, 2012 interview aired on St. Louis television station KTVI-TV, Akin was asked his views on whether women who became pregnant due to rape should have the option of abortion. He replied:

“Well you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. 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. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

The comment was widely criticized as false. Medical experts say there is no evidence to support the assertion that women are less likely to get pregnant from rape compared with consensual sex. A three-year study of 4008 adult American women from 1996 that found rape-related pregnancy occurred with "significant frequency" was cited as evidence against Akin's claim.

I’m positive crack heads could make more cogent commentary. Who would even defend such idiocy?

Sadly, all the usual suspects:

Akin has been defended by some social conservative organizations and notable Republicans, including the Family Research Council and Mike Huckabee.^[59] A spokesman for the Council said that "We feel this is a case of gotcha politics... We know who Todd Akin is. We've worked with him up on the hill. He's a defender of life." Akin's remarks were also defended by the evangelical Christian activist Kirk Cameron.^[61] A representative of the American Family Association cited a 1999 article by Doctor John C. Willke to argue Akin "was exactly right". Pro-life theologian Pia de Solenni called Akin's remarks "idiotic", but also claimed that there is "no solid data" on the question of whether rape inhibits pregnancy, and opined that it was not a "far stretch [from effects of long-term stress on fertility] to wonder if women who are raped might have a lesser rate of pregnancy resulting from the rape". Robert Fleischmann, director of pro-life group Christian Life Resources, similarly argued that Akin's point was plausible but lacked data ("I have yet to see a study that demonstrates some sort of contraceptive effect from a rape. I do believe, however, it is not an unwarranted conclusion." and "Statistically speaking, it appears something happens in a rape, either with the victim or with the perpetrator, that reduces the incidence of pregnancy."). In response to Republican demands that he resigns, Personhood USA spokeswoman Jennifer Mason said that Akin's position "is an integral part of the Republican Party platform, the same position that was held by President Ronald Reagan" and that "[we] are left with Reagan Republicans, who agree with the Republican Party platform on abortion, and Romney Republicans, a fringe group of liberals who compromise on human life. Mike Huckabee supported Akin by soliciting donations for his Senate campaign, in which he accused the "Republican establishment" of a "carefully orchestrated and systematic attack."

That anyone in their right minds could even side with a breath-takingly ignorant statement is officially mind-boggling.

The great divide here is not about anything else but the delusion that there is some sort of ‘soul’ involved, that much talked-about, much glorified, but incredibly unprovable ethereal mythological will-o-the wisp that human beings are mysterious imbued with at birth (or as the more deluded claim, at conception).

We should then work from the assumption that there is no such critter, and deal with the harsh realities of the real world.

But then, when the surreal nonsense of religion invades the domicile of reason, it makes me lose some hope for our species.

Till the next post, then.