By Gabby Peters–

Nothing sparks my interest on a topic or screams “this is going to be good” quite like the first results of research consisting of multiple apologies and pleas for forgiveness from a candidate for senate. As I waded through the countless stories about just how sorry Republican representative Todd Akin was for his “use of the wrong words in the wrong way,” I couldn’t help but wonder just what he had to be so sorry about. When I finally stumbled across the interview that sent most of his colleagues and the rest of the waking world reeling, the words ‘legitimate rape’ were pasted all across my computer screen and all I could think was, when has there been such a concept as illegitimate rape and since when did it become the government’s place to make any sort of judgment on such a topic?

On April 20th, 2012 Representative Todd Akin of Missouri was interviewed by KTVI-TV and asked his opinion of abortion in the event of rape. His response that would go down in history as one of the biggest foot-in-mouth moments was, “It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down.” Akin was speaking what many of his coconspirators would applaud; he just seemed to have used the wrong words.

An anti-abortion position is nothing new to the Republican Party, but it is now rapidly leading to an extremist party trying to edge their way into control over women’s health issues amongst many other crucial topics. Akin and Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan were original co-sponsors of the “No Tax-payer Funding for Abortion” act which restricted the federal definition of rape to vastly downsize the ability of women to be able to use Medicaid dollars and other such resources for abortions of pregnancies resulting from rape. The term “forcible rape” was adopted in place of statutory rape, which would mean that the rape of a drugged or impaired woman or one that did not result from physical force would no longer be punishable as rape by law. So not only might a woman have to suffer sexual intercourse which she did not deem consensual, but if this bill were passed, they would have to see their rapists walking the streets. These beliefs may seem off the wall or as some radical ideas of a small group of people, but in reality they are the beliefs of over two hundred Republicans currently in Congress. In fact, the Republican platform has been trying to take an act to Congress since 2000 known as the “human life amendment” which would completely ban abortion. Some versions of this act would specify exemptions for rape and life-threatening pregnancies, but others would not.

Many members of the Republican house have reacted in adverse ways to Akin’s statements, but was he not just saying what they were all thinking? The only difference is he wasn’t quite so eloquent about stating the fact that a woman shouldn’t have the final say in what is acceptable to happen to her own body. How can these people make any sort of judgment on a topic which they cannot even claim to have an ounce of empathy about? There are obviously varying circumstances and degrees of sexual assault, but the bottom line is, if a woman believes that she has been raped, is it not the right of any outside party to assess whether or not she should have the legal right to deal with such a traumatic incident anyway they see fit.

This stance of Republicans has quickly adopted the title of the “War on Women,” and although this may be a tad extreme, it seems mild in comparison to the final result the Republican Party is hoping for. It is crucial to protect the rights of women to have claim over their own bodies and health rights, and if such a bill were passed, these rights would be more than violated. These laws cannot be allowed to trump the right to privacy established in Roe v. Wade under the due process clause of the 14th amendment which extended to a woman the decision to have an abortion. When taking a stance on this issue we all must ask ourselves: do the health rights of women, especially in cases of rape, belong in the cold hands of the law or to those whom it will directly affect?

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