Did Akin's blunder show how unwilling we are to openly discuss serious topics?

> Did Akin's blunder show how unwilling we are to openly discuss serious topics?

Akin’s “blunder” doesn’t reflect a rationally defensible position, so there isn’t a serious discussion to be had there.

> How common is pregnancy due to rape?

“There are … numerous studies regarding rape and pregnancy. Some data show that rape can not only result in pregnancy, but it may even lead to higher rates of pregnancy than consensual sex.”

“A 1996 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) reported that “among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.” This study said the rate of becoming pregnant after sexual assault is considerable, estimating that “the national rape-pregnancy rate is 5.0 percent per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45).”” http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/08/21/todd...

Note that this information was not difficult to find. Had Akin bothered to look he would have found it. Had you bothered to look, you would have found it. No discussion necessary.

> His actual point seemed to be about 'statutory' vs 'forced' rape.

I suppose it’s possible. I tend to think he was trying to differentiate between situations where a woman fights as aggressively as she can, versus situations where she submits without putting up a serious fight due to having a gun to her head or a knife to her throat or because she was drugged or because her children were threatened, or for any number of other reasons. If you want to have a discussion, that’s a better topic: why do some people seem to assume that it’s not rape unless the victim fights and screams? Is that an assumption that you make yourself, even subconsciously?

> The guy used really bad choice of words with 'legitamate' but the point is not invalid.

Yes, the point was completely invalid, as I’ve demonstrated above using a 3 second Google search. As for the choice of words, what type of mindset do you have to have to come up with a word like that? How out of touch do you have to be to imply by your choice of words that the incredible trauma of rape, undergone by thousands of women every year, is somehow not legitimate if the woman didn’t fight back forcefully enough?

But let’s stretch the benefit of the doubt as far as possible and assume Akin was only differentiating “legitimate” rape from statutory rape. Does that help him? His ultimate point was that, in an abortion ban, an exception for rape isn’t necessary because victims of “legitimate” rape don’t get pregnant. Ignoring the blatant falsity and poor judgment of such a statement, we’re still left with the idea that it’s OK to ban abortions without exception, because “legitimate” rapes (and thus not statutory rapes) don’t result in pregnancy. Apparently rapes of children do result in pregnancy, but Akin doesn’t think that’s important enough to provide an exception to the proposed ban.

You think about that. If you have an underage daughter, then think about it extra hard.

It shows that the republican party is full of horses rear ends who blithely spew worthless opinions on subjects they know nothing about. And you're just providing another example of that.

The idea that rape made it "less likely," or impossible, for women to conceive was once indeed "taken seriously," in the same time period when witchcraft was taken seriously, and when people were subjected to absurd ordeals to prove they weren't possessed.

It has not been "taken seriously" by modern medical science in over two hundred years. If you think you know better, please feel free to spend 8 or 20 years getting through medical school, and you can then enrich the medical community with your valuable knowledge on the subject. You jack a..

What the hell do you mean, "they didn't believe in the female orgasm?" What orifice are you pulling that "factoid" out of? They knew all about the god damn female orgasm. Half the human race was HAVING female orgasms on a regular basis. They believed that if the woman had an orgasm, then it wasn't rape. Apparently you do too, or you wouldn't stress the god almighty importance of the orgasm and all that great "special help" you claim it gives to conception. And where the hell do you get off telling women they weren't raped if they had an orgasm anyway? What the hell's that got to do with it? And yeah, they believed that the woman couldn't get pregnant without an orgasm, ergo, if she had a kid then it wasn't rape. Which is exactly the same line of crap you're trying to find an excuse for, and you've got no more back up for that line of crap than they did. It is indeed, nothing more or less than a stupid superstition for a lynch mob, in your own words, and it has never been taken seriously, in any other context.

The very wisest thing you could do right now is delete this question. As soon as you grow a uterus, think about it and decide if you really want to post this foolishness.

There are many subjects we should, as should our media, be discussing. Not in any order of importance:

Economy

Jobs being shipped out of the country

Deteriorating infrastructure.

Poor quality of our education system.

The home foreclosure crisis

Unfairlyt structured personal income tax policy

Um, noooooo... it shows how unwilling HE is to discuss serious topics.

Akin is trying to turn back the clock on the reproductive rights 'topic' fifty years and the answer is still NO. We had all these arguments decades ago, it is settled and we're not going to revisit it now or ever. That is not 'unwilling' to address an issue. It is just 'unwilling' to regress. We're not going to legitimize this goon or any of his 'issues' by pretending he is worthy of serious consideration.

EDIT: I appreciate your appeal is articulate, disciplined and coherent. That establishes YOU as serious but it establishes neither Akin nor this subject matter as serious. I respect your position and sympathize with your passion on this subject but the fact remains we had this argument decades ago, it lasted decades, it is settled and once progress is determined, civilization never goes backwards. It's not as simple as "I'm right / You're wrong", it's just that we've already exhausted this argument and nothing constructive is going to come from repeating it. You're probably young and the subject doesn't feel exhausted to you yet so you're just going to have to read about the history on this if you need something of more substance to process it. Sorry. Try another subject. I'm real longwinded and patient on most subjects and I love to argue but just not to such an extent that I think repeating arguments I already had eight times thirty years ago are worth that time and effort.

I really don't care what Akin said or what he meant. What I care about is that abortion remain legal and has no limitations (beside gestational age) set by ignorant men in Washington or any state capital around the nation. It's a woman's body, future and life dammit. Not yours or anyone else's.

Whether you like it or not, extreme cases do exist. The numbers don't matter. If a woman feels the need to have an abortion, for any reason, no one should be able to tell her she can't and no one should think they have the right to tell her what she should do.

Perhaps. Personally, I believe the ludicrous beliefs of conservatives are unworthy of consideration as serious topics. I especially think any debate of these issues is pointless since it is undermined by constant conservative attempts to discredit those who disagree with them instead of engaging in a serious debate about such topics.

I have a problem seriously considering the silly beliefs of people who dismiss my own beliefs as silly instead of attempting any serious consideration of them. For example, one of my beliefs that gets dismissed as silly instead of being seriously considered is my claim that Republicans are doing more set our country up for a Marxist revolution than Democrats are.

TODD AKIN IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT .. GET THE FACTS THEN TALK

ST. LOUIS—Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, a conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, said in an interview broadcast Sunday that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in the case of "a legitimate rape," adding that conception in such cases is rare.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Legitimate+rape+c...

Hahahahaha - that's great right wing spin!!

If you keep obediently telling the right wing lies, you MIGHT get a bite of Romney's Money Sandwich!!! Think about it...

those calling for akin to step aside. are you also willing to demand that biden and waters resign/not run for re-election. biden said that conservatives want you all back in chains. waters said "that the tea party can go straight to hell'. these are liberals making stupid comment and i don't hear that they are being required to drop out.

Yes