Okay,
so Missouri Senatorial Candidate Todd Akin was wrong about the physiology of
rape and conception, but I think his groveling is even worse. From listening to his comments, it sounds as
though he mistakenly believed that a woman’s body automatically rejects any
semen from a man who forcibly rapes her.
Of course that is absurd. Mr. Akin
has quickly admitted his error, but he has responded in a politically correct way
that concedes too much ground to the pro-abortion movement. In spite of his inaccuracy about conception
regarding circumstances of forcible rape and in spite of his unfortunate choice
of the words, “legitimate rape,” there are some important points on this issue
that should not be surrendered to the pro-abortion and pro-compromise culture. So I say to Mr. Akin, “Now is not the time to
throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
(Sorry, please forgive the pun.)
In that regard, the following are six main points that need to be
maintained:
1. Killing
a child, inside or outside of the womb, is an inherently evil act. This is axiomatic to anyone willing to just
look at the act in itself, without clouding the decision with circumstantial
ethics. Consider a mother who kills her
baby within a year after childbirth.
Regardless of circumstance, killing a newborn baby is one of the most
heinous crimes a woman, or a doctor, could commit. Killing a child in the womb is simply killing
a baby that the mother cannot see. That
people fail to recognize that abortion and infanticide are equally heinous merely
betrays their superficiality. Simply
put, it is not morally acceptable for a woman to kill a newborn baby who was
conceived under circumstances of rape.
Other than the superficial reason that she cannot see the infant,
abortion is no different.
2. In
spite of his unfortunate misunderstanding of reproductive physiology, there are
some reasons why it is relatively rare for women who get raped to become
pregnant. A. For numerous reasons, the sexual act may not
be completed. B. For her to become pregnant, she must be
ovulating or approaching ovulation.
C. In the wake of a rape, many
(if not all) women experience an acute stress reaction. Sometimes (the prevalence is unknown), this
acute stress reaction can lead to a miscarriage. D. In
conjunction with the stress reaction, some women after a rape will (understandably)
abuse substances in extreme excess. This
substance abuse can also lead to miscarriage, even before knowledge of
pregnancy. So there are numerous reasons
for a woman who is raped not to conceive or carry a child full-term. Of course, some do.
3. The
child who is conceived under circumstance of rape or abortion is an innocent
victim. It makes no sense for that child
to receive the death penalty simply because his or her father was a rapist.
4. Rape
is an evil act, but something good—a child—can come from the evil act. Most mothers who carry the child to term come
to understand that there can be a purpose to their suffering. As difficult and painful as rape is, having a
beautiful child is positive act of healing.
Only the most callous mother would punish her child for the
circumstances of conception.
5. In
spite of Mr. Akin’s choice of the word, “legitimate rape,” as sounding
insensitive, it really is time that the United States takes a serious look at
the definition of rape. Currently, in
many states, a woman can have too much to drink, have intercourse, and claim
later that she was not in a condition to fully consent to sex. In other words, she probably wouldn’t have
had sex if she had not been drunk, even though she got intoxicated of her own
volition. She can then charge the man with
rape. I've read the affidavits. It seems to me there is rarely a rape kit. Nearly always, it is one
person’s testimony against another’s. In some of these cases, the sex was consensual
until a young person became pregnant, someone fooled around, the couple broke
up, or they had a fight over custody. Working
in the field, I have never seen a penalty for false-accusation, but I have
witnessed the accusers being rewarded by revenge, emancipation, and child
custody. I don’t know how many cases, in
reality, are fabricated. Probably most
of the men who complain about these supposed injustices are guilty as sin. But I do know that the rewards and
punishments are set up to encourage false accusations. None of these crimes, whether relatively minor
or severe, should be disregarded, of course.
But society should take a more critical eye toward the legitimacy of sex
crime accusations, especially between adults who are legally capable of consent. Overall, I think this is partly a problem of
language. In English, we have one word
for rape, whether it’s date rape or violent rape. Perhaps we should be more like the Eskimos who have something like sixteen
words for snow. We should develop more words to distinguish different types of sexual acting out. No serious person wants to make light of what
we currently call date rape, but to call it rape also belittles what people
traditionally called rape. So, you have
a clumsy engineer like Mr. Akin who struggles over the words of what he is
saying and—unintentionally—he offends women. In some ways, the
problem is that there are no adequate words at his disposal to adequately
describe his distinction. Regardless of
how insensitive he was, every honest person in America knows exactly what Mr.
Akin was trying to say. (Even if he did
happen to be wrong.)
6. This
leads to an interesting question.
Suppose we all woke up tomorrow and Roe versus Wade were overturned. In many states, abortion would quickly become
illegal, but in most states there would be an exception for rape and incest. So let’s suppose I’m a woman. And let’s suppose I have a boyfriend who I
love, but it turns out he’s a loser. We
have a big fight. He really took
advantage of me—lied, cheated, and manipulated.
So we break up. I’m mad at
him. Furious. Then I’m late for my period. Turns out I’m pregnant. I don’t want his baby. I hate him.
But now that they’ve overturned Roe versus Wade, I cannot get an
abortion in my state. Let’s say I’m in
the mid-West and I have to travel 800 miles to have a legal abortion. But—because of the exception clause--I can
claim that I was raped and have an abortion.
In fact, it’s probably free. Do I
accuse my ex-boyfriend of rape? It would
accomplish two things I want. It would
allow me to have an abortion. And it
would enable me to get revenge on my ex-boyfriend. Many
women would be above such behavior, but many others wouldn’t. In my opinion, the exception clause could
lead to an epidemic of false accusations of rape.
Of course, these are very difficult issues. Currently, the emotionally charged atmosphere
of diametrically opposed positions does nothing to lead to resolution. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the
pro-life movement is losing steam and giving up. Mr. Akin’s groveling is, I think, symptomatic
of this current apathy. And the
Republican Party, both establishment and tea party, is more than happy to
jettison social issues from their platforms.
This is unfortunate. Instead of
just surrendering to the changing tides of public opinion, I wish individuals
like Mr. Akin would fight back. I wish
they would take charge of the debate and be fearless. Politically, Mr. Akin has nothing to gain by
his pandering. His only chance is to
fight back, and to fight back hard.
