Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Mr. Akin, Don't Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater

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.    

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