‘God’s Little Shield’: A Short History Of The False No-Pregnancy-From-Rape Theory

[antigop]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/akin-not-the-first-a-short-history-of-the-false-no-pregnancy-from-rape-theory.php

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 Delaware, 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.

[MarianJack]

1. Not to be nitpicky, but...

freind was from PA, specifically, Delaware County PA. He primaried Arlen Specter in 1992 and lost. I delivered a pizza to him once. He was no better than a so-so tipper.

He is also an asshole.

PEACE!

[antigop]

3. Now corrected on TPM

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Stephen Freind’s home state. He represented Delaware County, Pa.

[enlightenment]

2. Nice bit of research.

Kudos to the author, Pema Levy, and thank you for posting the link.

It would be nice to think that stupidity has a shelf life, but it appears that this particular bit of Conservative windbag nuttery is just too popular for them to throw away.

[Hydra]

4. It's the continued war on science

Because the world THEY want to bring us is so much better...

And to think people scoffed when I said they were driving us into a new dark age.