Illegitimate excuses downplay legitimate rape

I’ll come right out and admit that I’m the president of the Mercer Alliance for Reproductive Freedom.
I believe that women should have the choice about what happens with their bodies.  Now that that’s out of the way, I think that it’s time to talk about Senator Akin and what he deems “legitimate rape.”
In case you aren’t aware of Missouri senator nominee Todd Akin’s controversial statement, I’ll fill you in.  He said during an interview with a television station that he opposes abortion rights even in the case of rape because victims of legitimate rape have biological defenses that prevent pregnancy.
Let’s just start with the surface of that statement.  The fact is, Akin is wrong.  If women actually could do this, then the multi-billion dollar hormonal contraceptives industry wouldn’t be necessary.
Maybe Akin was just confused about what species he was talking about.  Ducks do have the superpower that he’s speaking of.
In fact, female ducks are constantly evolving ways of not getting pregnant.  But that’s because at least a third of duck sex is rape.
The males are constantly evolving ways of getting around the female’s defenses, basically at the same rate.  So maybe if the rape rate keeps going up, then human females will be able to develop the same powers.  But currently, it’s basically a one-way valve.
The nuances of Akin’s statement are really the most disturbing ones.  One out of six women will be victims of completed or attempted rape in their lifetimes.
So Akin is basically telling 17.7 million women that what happened to them is probably not legitimate and isn’t really all that traumatic.  That the depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal thoughts are unnecessary...women are just being overdramatic!
Even though victims of sexual assault are 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 26 times more likely to abuse drugs, there aren’t really consequences, unless it was legitimate and you got pregnant, and even then, you shouldn’t be allowed to have an abortion, because it punishes the fetus and not the rapist.
According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), in 2004-2005, 64,080 women were raped.  About five percent of those rapes resulted in pregnancy, which equals out to about 3,204 pregnancies.  But you have to remember that some women that get raped are on the pill.
Some rapists use condoms so that DNA tests can’t be run.  There might be medical or age reasons why a pregnancy can’t happen (about 15 percent of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 12.  Try telling a twelve year old that what happened to her wasn’t legitimate.)
Akin later came out and made a statement that he misspoke. But he certainly had no problem going on Mike Huckabee’s radio show to talk with Huckabee about how rape has created some great people.
Huckabee said, “...yet even from those those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things.”  Umm...what?  If this isn’t the silliest rationale that you’ve ever heard, let’s think about it the other way.
Yes, rape has created people who grow up to be productive members of society.  Consensual sex, on the other hand, has created people like Hitler and Stalin, so we should probably outlaw that and only allow rape, right?
I’m a strong believer of “no uterus, no opinion” in politics, and I really think that these people must have skipped health class in high school where the teacher goes over what reproductive organs do.
Politicians claim that there isn’t a War on Women being waged, but with comments like Akin’s, it’s obvious that that just isn’t true.
It’s a sad  truth that men are the majority of the people that are trying to govern my body, telling me that if I get raped, I’m either asking for it or it wasn’t legitimate if it didn’t result in a child.
If men had the ability to get pregnant, I seriously doubt that this would even be an issue, because all men have the rights to their own bodies, but women are still seen as second class citizens in the eyes of many of men.
We may have gained the power to vote in 1919, but we still aren’t equals.  That much is perfectly clear.

Comments on this opinion can be sent to suzanne.m.stroup@live.mercer.edu