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Ignorant, AntiScience Rethuglican Regressives Believe In Medievil Fairy Tales About Rape And Pregnancy
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A Man
Aug 21, 2012, 11:13:19 PM8/21/12
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When A Woman Is Raped, The Juices Don't Flow And She Can't Get Pregnant
Did you know that?
Did you know that when a woman is raped, the juices don't flow and
medical authorities agree that it's a medical rarity for a woman to
get pregnant when she is raped, if ever. If you're a Democrat, you
probably didn't know that. You see, that's one of the problems with us
Democrats, we don't keep up with medical science, like the Republicans
do.
‘God’s Little Shield’: A Short History Of The False
No-Pregnancy-From-Rape Theory
Pema Levy August 20, 2012, 10:23 AM 29697
Rep. Todd Akin is far from the only conservative to suggest women
rarely get pregnant from rape. He’s not even the first lawmaker to
make the assertion (which flies in the face of medical evidence).
A search of news archives by TPM shows a short history of Republican
politicians espousing the idea of a biological defense against
pregnancy in cases of rape, though there’s little consistency in their
explanations of how such a mechanism works.
In 1988, Stephen Freind, a state representative in Pennsylvania,
defended his no-exceptions anti-abortion stance — as Akin was doing
Sunday — by claiming that it was virtually impossible for a woman who
is raped to become pregnant.
“The odds are one in millions and millions and millions,” Freind said
in a debate in March of that year. “And there is a physical reason for
that.”
Freind said that women possess a “certain secretion” that kills sperm.
“Rape, obviously, is a traumatic experience. When that traumatic
experience is undergone, a woman secretes a certain secretion, which
has a tendency to kill sperm.”
Freind promised to provide scientific documentation of his theory and
told a cheering crowd later that month, “If you’re expecting me to
back off, the answer is no.”
Seven years later, a state legislator in North Carolina championed the
same theory. Henry Aldridge, a Republican state representative, argued
for the elimination of a public fund to help poor women pay for
abortions by using a similar argument.
“The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the
juices don’t flow, the body functions don’t work and they don’t get
pregnant,” Aldridge told the House Appropriations Committee. “Medical
authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever.”
Aldridge was addressing the committee to apologize for “earlier
remarks implying that victims of rape or incest are sexually
promiscuous,” according to an Associated Press report at the time.
Aldridge, like Freind, did not back down. “To get pregnant, it takes a
little cooperation. And there ain’t much cooperation in a rape,” he
said.
In 1998, Republican Arkansas state Rep. Fay Boozman botched his own
Senate bid against Sen. Blanche Lincoln when he said at a rally that
pregnancy resulting from rape was rare. He denied having used the
phrase “God’s little shield,” according to the Washington Post.
The next year, Mike Huckabee, then governor of Arkansas, appointed his
good friend Boozman to lead the state’s Health Department. Upon
becoming health director, Boozman apologized for the comments, saying
they were “not statistically based.”
Huckabee, who opposes abortion even in cases of rape, endorsed Akin in
the Missouri primary.
Akin, who earlier this month won the Republican Senate nomination in
Missouri, said he “misspoke” in a follow-up statement, but he did not
disavow the substance of his comments except to acknowledge that rape
can in fact result in pregnancy.
One abortion-rights activist said publicizing the false theory can
cause even further trauma to rape victims.
“The first time I heard it or saw anything about it it was in a chat
room,” Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for
Women, told TPM. O’Neill recalled that a woman in the chat room said
she “struggled to deal with the shame of her sexual assault because
she had heard that she was not supposed to get pregnant and that her
body sort of had betrayed her.”
“It was a number of years ago,” O’Neill said, “But I just remember
thinking, ‘Oh my God that poor woman, where did she hear this?’”
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/akin-not-the-first-a-short-history-of-the-false-no-pregnancy-from-rape-theory.php
Did you know that?
Did you know that when a woman is raped, the juices don't flow and
medical authorities agree that it's a medical rarity for a woman to
get pregnant when she is raped, if ever. If you're a Democrat, you
probably didn't know that. You see, that's one of the problems with us
Democrats, we don't keep up with medical science, like the Republicans
do.
‘God’s Little Shield’: A Short History Of The False
No-Pregnancy-From-Rape Theory
Pema Levy August 20, 2012, 10:23 AM 29697
Rep. Todd Akin is far from the only conservative to suggest women
rarely get pregnant from rape. He’s not even the first lawmaker to
make the assertion (which flies in the face of medical evidence).
A search of news archives by TPM shows a short history of Republican
politicians espousing the idea of a biological defense against
pregnancy in cases of rape, though there’s little consistency in their
explanations of how such a mechanism works.
In 1988, Stephen Freind, a state representative in Pennsylvania,
defended his no-exceptions anti-abortion stance — as Akin was doing
Sunday — by claiming that it was virtually impossible for a woman who
is raped to become pregnant.
“The odds are one in millions and millions and millions,” Freind said
in a debate in March of that year. “And there is a physical reason for
that.”
Freind said that women possess a “certain secretion” that kills sperm.
“Rape, obviously, is a traumatic experience. When that traumatic
experience is undergone, a woman secretes a certain secretion, which
has a tendency to kill sperm.”
Freind promised to provide scientific documentation of his theory and
told a cheering crowd later that month, “If you’re expecting me to
back off, the answer is no.”
Seven years later, a state legislator in North Carolina championed the
same theory. Henry Aldridge, a Republican state representative, argued
for the elimination of a public fund to help poor women pay for
abortions by using a similar argument.
“The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the
juices don’t flow, the body functions don’t work and they don’t get
pregnant,” Aldridge told the House Appropriations Committee. “Medical
authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever.”
Aldridge was addressing the committee to apologize for “earlier
remarks implying that victims of rape or incest are sexually
promiscuous,” according to an Associated Press report at the time.
Aldridge, like Freind, did not back down. “To get pregnant, it takes a
little cooperation. And there ain’t much cooperation in a rape,” he
said.
In 1998, Republican Arkansas state Rep. Fay Boozman botched his own
Senate bid against Sen. Blanche Lincoln when he said at a rally that
pregnancy resulting from rape was rare. He denied having used the
phrase “God’s little shield,” according to the Washington Post.
The next year, Mike Huckabee, then governor of Arkansas, appointed his
good friend Boozman to lead the state’s Health Department. Upon
becoming health director, Boozman apologized for the comments, saying
they were “not statistically based.”
Huckabee, who opposes abortion even in cases of rape, endorsed Akin in
the Missouri primary.
Akin, who earlier this month won the Republican Senate nomination in
Missouri, said he “misspoke” in a follow-up statement, but he did not
disavow the substance of his comments except to acknowledge that rape
can in fact result in pregnancy.
One abortion-rights activist said publicizing the false theory can
cause even further trauma to rape victims.
“The first time I heard it or saw anything about it it was in a chat
room,” Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for
Women, told TPM. O’Neill recalled that a woman in the chat room said
she “struggled to deal with the shame of her sexual assault because
she had heard that she was not supposed to get pregnant and that her
body sort of had betrayed her.”
“It was a number of years ago,” O’Neill said, “But I just remember
thinking, ‘Oh my God that poor woman, where did she hear this?’”
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/akin-not-the-first-a-short-history-of-the-false-no-pregnancy-from-rape-theory.php
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