"Akin himself has suggested in the past that women may claim to be raped as a strategy..."

[usregimechange]

Akin’s claim is one that pops up occasionally in social conservative circles. A federal judge nominated by President Bush in the early 2000s had said similar things, as have state lawmakers in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Politicians and activists who espouse this view often suggest that women who haven’t been raped will claim to have been raped in order to obtain an abortion. An Idaho state lawmaker apologized earlier this year after urging doctors to make sure women who claimed they had been raped were sure of that fact.

Akin himself has suggested in the past that women may claim to be raped as a strategy during divorce proceedings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/08/19/todd-akin-gop-senate-candidate-legitimate-rape-rarely-causes-pregnancy/?hpid=z2

[knitter4democracy]

1. At what point to we admit that this is deeply concerning?

This is the kind of crap rapists say. Shouldn't we connect the dots here?

[Marie Marie]

3. You read my mind.

Any personal experiences that you would like to share Mr Akin? You seem to imply that you know an awful lot about this.

[yardwork]

11. Exactly. It's deeply concerning that the entire Republican Party behaves like rapists.

Women (and every man who cares about women) should rise up and say that this is enough.

[Tx4obama]

2. Also --- Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/125173170

[Archae]

4. The possibility of doing this does exist.

And I just read about a guy who spent decades in jail for a rape that the woman finally admitted never happened.

BUT...

These are very rare and very far between.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. So this wacko's idea could mean

incentive to point the finger at someone, anyone, as a means of
obtaining an abortion

OR

a possible defense to use against an accuser.

It just gets murkier and murkier.

It's worse than the tax code.

[Chorophyll]

7. Which is like saying that there should be no food assistance programs

because of that one guy who "gamed the system."

There are shitty people of both genders. But most women would NOT use rape "as a strategy." FFS.

[redqueen]

12. A possibility of voter fraud also exists.

Do we go easy on republicans who spout off about that crap, let alone back them up on the existence of said possibility?

[treestar]

6. OMG

Lunacy. Social conservatives have thought this for a while but they know it's wrong and that is why they normally don't talk about it outside their circles. Like their true feelings about black people.

[seabeyond]

8. mra strong push that half or more rape claims are false.

THE CLAIM Close to half or even more of the sexual assaults reported by women never occurred. Versions of this claim are a mainstay of sites like Register-Her.com, which specializes in vilifying women who allegedly lie about being raped. Such claims are also sometimes made by men involved in court custody battles.

THE REALITY This claim, which has gained some credence in recent years, is largely based on a 1994 article in the Archives of Sexual Behavior by Eugene Kanin that found that 41% of rape allegations in his study were “false.” But Kanin’s methodology has been widely criticized, and his results do not accord with most other findings. Kanin researched only one unnamed Midwestern town, and he did not spell out the criteria police used to decide an allegation was false. The town also polygraphed or threatened to polygraph all alleged victims, a now-discredited practice that is known to cause many women to drop their complaint even when it is true. In fact, most studies that suggest high rates of false accusations make a key mistake — equating reports described by police as “unfounded” with those that are false. The truth is that unfounded reports very often include those for which no corroborating evidence could be found or where the victim was deemed an unreliable witness (often because of drug or alcohol use or because of prior sexual contact with the attacker). They also include those cases where women recant their accusations, often because of a fear of reprisal, a distrust of the legal system or embarrassment because drugs or alcohol were involved. The best studies, where the rape allegations have been studied in detail, suggest a rate of false reports of somewhere between 2% and 10%. The most comprehensive study, conducted by the British Home Office in 2005, found a rate of 2.5% for false accusations of rape. The best U.S. investigation, the 2008 “Making a Difference” study, found a 6.8% rate.

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/myths-of-the-manosphere-lying-about-women

[KitSileya]

13. Not to mention,

That considering that very, very few of any accusations of rape end in convictions, the chance that persons convicted of rape are innocent are miniscule compared to the number of women raped every year. We're talking 184 wrongful convictions for every 64,000 rapes - and while every wrongful convitions is bad, every sane person would admit that those 64,000 rapes every year are a much bigger problem.

[seabeyond]

15. absolutely. i didnt even go there. fbi 30-70% of rape not reported. HUGE ass unknown

shown in #'s with that kind of spread. the number of rapes that are being downgraded by the police departments across the nation when they are reported. a small number of reported rapes are charged. a small number of charged rapes make it to court. a small number of rapes that make it to court are convicted. and a small number of rapes convicted get jail time.

damn straight.

and this mentality of legitimate rape continues to grow.

[JTFrog]

9. k&DUrec

[berni_mccoy]

10. DUrec for visibility. Let's expose the extremism on the GOP Ticket.

[knagle]

14. Raped

When I was 15 years old, I was raped; forcibly and legitimately raped. This happened many years ago but I was not an anomaly then nor would I be one today. In fact, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States every 2 minutes and 44% of those assaulted are under the age of 18 years old. *

Like at least 54% *of sexual assault victims, I did not report my rape to the police. I did not tell anyone at all until nearly four years later. My family, namely my parents, still have no idea that this happened to me. It would have killed my father then knowing that he had not been able to protect me. It would break both their hearts now knowing that I went through it alone.

I do not presume to know what other victims go through or how damaged they feel. I have read studies including one by the World Health Organization from 2002 which found the following effects on victims of sexual assault: they are 3 times more likely to suffer depression, they are 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, they are 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and they are 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

I have been much luckier than that. Overall I have had a healthy and happy life. It is however safe to say that I am altered in some way from the person I would have been. It is also true that although I rarely go to that dark place any more there are triggers that still take me there.

Unfortunately in the last few years many of those triggers have come from ill-advised and uninformed politicians. An statement yesterday precipitated this very personal and unusual outburst. Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, made a ridiculous comment including the words “legitimate rape” while answering a question about his position on abortion for rape victims. While the entirety of his comment was profoundly stupid it is the tenor of his comment and the abstract nature in which he along with several other prominent far right conservative politicians espouse their opinions on this matter that is so disturbing.

Having met the requirements of subject matter expertise, here are my thoughts. 1. Any one who has been or will be raped or sexually assaulted is the victim of a “forced”, “legitimate”, unlawful crime. 2. The decision surrounding any and all medical and psychological care for a person who has suffered this crime is a personal matter PERIOD. 3. Rape and sexual assault is not a political talking point for popularity, it should only be discussed in a public forum by educated service providers. 4. If your words may hurt and haunt thousands of people, stop talking.

IF YOU NEED HELP: call - The National Sexual Assault Hotline number is 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Free, confidential and available 24 hours/7 days per week. Online – check www.rainn.org

* U.S. Department of Justice, 2oo5 - 2010

[blaze]

18. Thanks for this post, knagle

And welcome to DU!

[renate]

21. I'm so sorry that someone did that to you

Thank you for sharing your story and your compassion for others. And welcome to DU.

[LisaL]

16. I think people are missing the point.

A woman shouldn't have to resort to anything as a strategy to get an abortion, since abortion should be legal.

[knitter4democracy]

19. There's that.

Pro-lifers often use that argument, though, and I always ask them why they think we can't trust the doctors and medical staff to do their job.

[Ichingcarpenter]

17. Thanksgiving should be remembered as a day to renounce “unbiblical” socialism

Akin gained notoriety after he told Perkins on his radio show that “at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God,” a remark he refused to apologize for.

In a documentary for Truth in Action Ministries, he claimed that the left “will snuff out the light of freedom” by “rewriting the history of America,” and warned that the health care reform law is “an unbiblical threat” that violated the Ten Commandments. Akin even believes that Medicare is unconstitutional, wants to eliminate the Departments of Education and Energy and the Environmental Protect Agency, wants to impeach judges for “making decisions not based on the U.S. Constitution,” and likens student loan reform to “stage three cancer.”




http://www.rightwingwatch.org/category/people/todd-akin

[marybourg]

20. For those too young to remember - when abortion was illegal

there was an exception in many states for "when the life or the health of the mother was in danger". In my state, this necessitated hearings, before a board appointed by the governor, where a woman had to appear, with whatever witnesses she wished to call, to make her case that her life or health was in danger. Can you picture this happening again? We could be headed there. Health Boards, Rape Boards, all staffed by Akins clones.

[Tikki]

22. What about the guy who rapes his wife to keep her dependent on...

him because she gets pregnant. So women, once again, are the only conniving people in a marriage and men are their victims according to these rw assholes.


Tikki

[bubba4249]

23. claims

Some congressmen claim to have a brain also. Should we believe them, or are they just claiming that to get elected?