Missouri senate nominee Todd Akin sparked outrage saying that in instances of 'legitimate rape,' the female body shuts down, preventing unwanted pregnancy.

Todd Akin told KTVI-TV: 'If it is a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.' (photo: KTV1)

'Legitimate Rape' Rarely Leads to Pregnancy, Claims US Senate Candidate

By Matt Williams, Guardian UK

20 August 12

Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Missouri, causes furore with explanation of his no-exceptions policy on abortion.

Republican Senate hopeful sparked outrage on Sunday by suggesting that "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy due to a woman's biological defences.

Todd Akin, a member of the House of Representatives and recently appointed Senate nominee for Missouri, made the claim during an interview in which he attempted to explain his no-exceptions policy in regards to abortion.

In reference to pregnancy resulting from rape, Akin told KTVI-TV: "First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that is really rare.

"If it is a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down."

But if that "didn't work", then the punishment should be "on the rapist and not attacking the child", Akin added.

A video clip of the interview soon went viral, leading to online criticism directed at the Republican politician.

Akin recently won the GOP nomination for a Senate seat that he is currently favourite to win. The incumbent senator he hopes to beat, Democrat Claire McCaskill, was among those who rebuked him online as the term "legitimate rape" began trending on Twitter.

"As a woman & former prosecutor who handled 100s of rape cases, I'm stunned by Rep Akin's comments about victims this AM," she tweeted.

Medical studies in the US suggest that 5% of rapes result in the victim becoming pregnant, with about 32,000 pregnancies in the US every year being the result of rape.

In a statement, Akin later claimed he "misspoke" and that his off-the-cuff remarks did not "reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year".

But the fallout from the remarks may have already damaged his prospects in the Missouri race and will give encouragement to Democrats who fear losing the senate seat in the forthcoming general election.

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+80 # granny6 2012-08-20 07:04

WTF is legitimate rape? The only thing that exceeds this man's stupidity is his ignorance.

+19 # vicnada 2012-08-20 09:46

Quoting granny6:

WTF is legitimate rape?

Clueless. Because he is a Republican, he is likely an entitled Cro-Magnon husband. The argument I imagine him making is that some women "claim" they are raped but are actually under legal contract for it? Oh, and those that aren't married probably joined the military, right? Different contract. Same story.

+19 # NAVYVET 2012-08-20 11:28

Please apologize to the Cro Magnons. Any culture that could create such wonderful art must have had some sensitive men.

+4 # Doubter 2012-08-20 10:32

"Legitimate rape" and "consensual rape" were probably valid categories before the advent of the Neanderthals, who had probably already transcended that primitive primate stage in the development of the genus "Homo."

+2 # NAVYVET 2012-08-20 11:29

YES!

+14 # ilenewells 2012-08-20 12:58

This man, along with many in the GOP, believes that some women lie about rapes during "messy" divorces, that women "ask" for it by dressing provocatively, and that wives cannot be "raped" by their husbandds. That is why Akins and Ryan wanted to use the term "forcibly raped" in their abortion exemptions.

Notice that Akins uses the terms "child" and "rapist" but then uses the term "woman's body" but not a "woman' or a "girl". He, and men like him, believe women are just vessels. So if a vessel happens to get pregnant from a "legitimate" rape, then it must mean that "god" wanted it that way.

We need to ty Akins to Ryan, over and over and over again, because the two aren't any different. Ryan is just a little smarter and doesn't get caught being so blatant.

+73 # Buddha 2012-08-20 07:45

Until women punish the GOP electorally for allowing such knucle-draggers to represent their party and for their constant attacks on women's reproductive freedom (and calling them sluts and prostitutes for wanting reproductive freedom), then this lunacy will continue full steam ahead. As bad as this sounds to educated people in the 21st Century, it still plays great to the "women should be submissive to their husbands" Religious Right loons.

+54 # LeeMG 2012-08-20 07:45

Where does Rep Akin get his medical knowledge and statistics? If he is so concerned about unborn children, why is he not sponsoring major legislation to support childcare both pre and post natal?

+37 # silenus 2012-08-20 08:31

Quoting LeeMG:

Where does Rep Akin get his medical knowledge and statistics? If he is so concerned about unborn children, why is he not sponsoring major legislation to support childcare both pre and post natal?

As to first question: He has a a degree in something called management engineering, and a Master of Divinity from some bible college. Personally, I'd be a little uncomfortable letting him take my appendix out.

As for your second question: Simple. He's a Republican.

+4 # robniel 2012-08-20 14:08

Could be worse. He could be the governor of Virginia with those abysmal credentials. Look at the bright side: now Missouri won't be a threat to change the balance in the senate.

+56 # stonecutter 2012-08-20 07:47

This knuckle-draggin g troglodyte of a candidate is bad enough, but the real cancer here is the system that allows someone with his views, borne of galactic ignorance, to rise to the top of a party ticket in a populous state like Missouri. Any woman who voted for him or supports his views has to be considerably dumber and dimmer than he is. If his comments aren't hard evidence that the GOP has disappeared into the dregs of the former John Birch Society and the KKK, I guess he'd have to show up at a TV interview in a white sheet to convince the boneheads who voted for him in the primary? Nah, they still wouldn't be convinced. They agree with him! A pure disgrace; anyone from Missouri should be ashamed that this guy was polling ahead of Claire McCaskill before he opened his pie hole.

+28 # Adoregon 2012-08-20 08:30

Troglodyte, indeed. Clearly this genius has never been raped or pregnant.

+42 # Artemis 2012-08-20 08:05

Isn't it reassuring that every day we hear more evidence of the ignorance and bigotry, unfeelingness and plain cruelty of the men and women who decide what happens with our lives?
How in the hell do these people ever get elected?

+38 # nirmalandhas 2012-08-20 08:06

it begins to look as though to be republican is to be mentally challenged in some way...

+17 # doneasley 2012-08-20 09:36

Quoting nirmalandhas:

it begins to look as though to be republican is to be mentally challenged in some way...

AMEN to that!!!

+8 # ilenewells 2012-08-20 12:59

And it is making all mentally challenged people look bad!

+22 # silenus 2012-08-20 08:20

Just be thankful that Mr. Akin is only a politician. Think of the damage he could do if he were a doctor.

+27 # pianosaurus rex 2012-08-20 08:37

How in the hell do these people get elected a poster has asked.

Well the answer is because many common sense folk have disengaged from voting for party politics….

Here is a solution.

All of the pregnancies that result from the completely oxy-moronic “legitimate rape” can be sent to Missouri where Todd Akins can become legal guardian for all of them.

As he believes so strongly in his assessment this should not trouble him at all.

The other interesting observation is where are all the other Republicans in denouncing this ill-conceived notion?

+30 # LeeBlack 2012-08-20 09:00

Planosaurus - I agree with the lack of responsible voters leading to this type of Representative. He's been so successful that he is running for the Senate. The fact that he is chairman of a SCIENCE committee is the failure of party leaders.

+31 # Eliza D 2012-08-20 08:47

What a vile cretin! I can hear the snicker from thousands of misogynistic Reptiles about the phrase "legitimate rape", which implies that many women who cry "rape!" were just too lazy or drunk to fight. Yes, Lee MG, rather than putting so much energy and money into attacking abortion, people who thinks it is morally wrong should be working to help the unwilling mothers and their children, before and after birth.

+26 # Susan1989 2012-08-20 08:54

Awful, awful, awful! Just look at his pale and rigid appearance. It is my belief that men like this have serious problems of their own about women and sex that they are acting out in the public arena...and that they most probably deeply hate women. What else could excuse such behavior?

+25 # Art947 2012-08-20 09:09

It is a shame that a once great political party has become a shell for the most ignorant, useless excuses for human beings in our nation. The statements from this mental midget are amplified by the statements of the party's nominees for the highest office in America.

Unfertilized eggs are now people (I guess that this is about as true as corporations are people), intercourse results in pregnancy only when it is wanted(?), social security is bankrupt (except for the fact that it has trillions of dollars in assets), the super-rich are job creators (then where are the jobs?), etc., etc.

It should be noted that ignorant individuals, such as TOdd Akin, are also creating the policies that affect American public education. And then we might ask, what is really wrong with America's public education system.

It is truly unfortunate that Missouri may elect an idiot such as this clown and this might result in further legislation that harms us all!

+15 # doneasley 2012-08-20 11:49

Quoting Art947:

... It should be noted that ignorant individuals, such as TOdd Akin, are also creating the policies that affect American public education. And then we might ask, what is really wrong with America's public education system...

You don't have to wait, Art. The Great State of Texas has already removed THOMAS JEFFERSON from their Social Studies textbooks back in 2010. THOMAS JEFFERSON!!! Am I missing something? Wasn't he the leading author of our Declaration of Independence and one of our Founding Fathers? JEFFERSON has, with Gov Rick Perry's approval, been removed from the Texas "educational" system. Oh, to be sure, there are other changes to social studies, history and economics lessons, but I thought it best to wait while you pick yourself up off the floor.

And that's not all, Art, the state of Louisiana’s new VOUCHER program will kick in during the upcoming school year. giving students in FAILING PUBLIC SCHOOLS the funds to attend certain private schools that will be spreading ignorance to their students by using curriculum that openly clashes with modern science.

I contend that that was the purpose of No Child Left Behind all along: to deem certain schools to be failing, close them, and use those public funds to offer vouchers to attend THEIR private schools following THEIR curriculum.

This is happening IN AMERICA! What does it say about us when the REGRESSIVE IMBECILES ARE WINNING???

+3 # Art947 2012-08-20 20:04

Don, thank you for your reinforcement of my comments. You will not that most of the regressive politicians are from the Southern states of our country. Did the South really win the Civil War? I know that we also have idiots in power in state up north as well. With any luck, the days of creatures like Scott Walker, John Kasich, Scott Brown as others of their ilk will be history soon enough.

BTW, one of the major negatives that will also be with our president, Barack Obama, is that he refused to request the Attorney General and tthe Justice Department to look into the crimes of Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Addington, Yoo, etc. The fact that these lowlifes are still roaming the streets and mouthing their evil opinions is a blight on the moral character of the USA.

0 # doneasley 2012-08-21 06:57

Quoting Art947:

... our president ... refused to request the... Justice Department to look into the crimes... The fact that these lowlifes are still roaming the streets... is a blight on the moral character of the USA.

That really frosts me too, Art. If Obama/Biden had committed the egregious crimes of Bush/Cheney, you can be sure the Regressives would have tried to impeach them by now. It's already been mentioned by some of them.

Bill Kristol, another Chickenhawk Iraq enabler, was on C-SPAN yesterday. I'm really fed up with the media giving air time to these cowardly pukes - people who've never been to war, but are so willing to send other people's children. In fact they are willing to conspire in constructing monumental lies and using the power and the purse of the US taxpayer in order to get their way. I marched in DC against the Iraqi invasion and found out later that Rumsfeld's DOD was filming all the participants. Trump endorsing Romoney, who stood there and said nothing while the blowhard liar Trump went on and on about the President not being born in the US. "Lowlifes" in pinstripes!

But back to the subject of this article, Paul Ryan was in bed with this guy Akin as they authored several abortion-relate d bills together. The GOP has to get rid of Akin because of his close ties to Ryan, who shares Akin's beliefs regarding control of American women's lady parts.

The Putrid Party is in disarray!

+19 # chuckw38 2012-08-20 09:28

Turd Akin is typical of all other Sexist males who see Women as "property" to be done with what the arse-hole chooses.... IQ= Minus 1,099,999, if that....
I am a 73 y.o. Feminist male, who supports Women's Right to decide what is to be done to her body

+21 # chrisconnolly 2012-08-20 09:32

I'd be interested in hearing his definition of legitimate rape. What other kinds of rape does he think there are? And is he suggesting that all the women who were FORCED into the Bosnian rape camps who became pregnant as a result were not in fact forced, therefore no rape camps existed. And I thought I could not be stunned any further by the republican illogic and callousness.

+23 # Reductio Ad Absurdum 2012-08-20 09:55

That should be easy to find since Akin and — WAIT FOR IT — none other than vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and most of the House GOP cosponsored a bill that would have narrowed the already-narrow exceptions to the laws banning federal funding for abortion—from all cases of rape to cases of "forcible rape."

Hey Republicans, how are those jobs, jobs, jobs, coming along that you ran on in 2010?

+11 # ilenewells 2012-08-20 13:02

He, and many others like him, believe that woman lie about rapes, that wives cannot be raped by their husbands and that some women incite rape by the clothes they wear. Ryan agrees with him because he and Ryan sponsored bill that allowed only the "forceble rapes" to be covered.

+12 # ilenewells 2012-08-20 13:05

If I had known my uterus had special powers to protect me from my would be rapist, I would have felt better while I was being pinned down on my bed at gunpoint. Luckily I fought him off, but good to know that thanks to my magic uterus, I wouldn't have gotten pregnant had I been actually raped.

-7 # elmont 2012-08-20 10:09

I'm willing to grant this moron a pass on his unfortunate word choice of "legitimate." I accept that what he was referring to was "true forcible rape"--the knife-at-the-th roat rape by a complete stranger, as opposed to date rape or marital rape, for example. I don't think he meant in any way to suggest that rape is legally authorized or 'legitimate' in some way. All of that said, it's frightening that some clown so ignorant of basic biology and common-sense humanity might actually be elected to public office anywhere in the United States.

+19 # CAMUS1111 2012-08-20 10:59

ummm..."marital " or date" rape are also illegitmate so i wouldn't give him or you a pass...

-2 # elmont 2012-08-20 15:35

Quoting CAMUS1111:

ummm..."marital" or date" rape are also illegitmate so i wouldn't give him or you a pass...

Good grief. Did any of you actually read what I said? I most certainly did not say (or mean to imply) that rape in any form is 'legitimate' or somehow acceptable. I only meant to say that (I presume) this idiot misused the word 'legitimate.' In other words, even if one grants that he stupidly misused that word, and gives him a pass on it, he is STILL a pathetic moron.

+3 # Reductio Ad Absurdum 2012-08-20 16:07

elmont, whether it was your intent or not, you SEEMED to be giving Akin a pass for implying that a rape is somehow mitigated in degree if the rapist is a spouse or a date who doesn't physically harm the woman.

I think what Akin meant to say was "a provable rape involving physical assault" which is still as ignorant as his actual statement, because it asserts that a woman must be physically assaulted to be raped. He further asserts that if she's assaulted, a woman's body somehow will block conception, implying that if you got pregnant during your 'rape," you probably weren't raped.

This idiot serves on the House's “The Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.” That's scarier yet.

+1 # elmont 2012-08-21 06:09

Fair enough. I (apparently) seemed to imply something I did not intend. Sexual assault is simply unacceptable, however parsed. My intention was to suggest that even if we allow this clown a pass on word choice, he was completely out of bounds. Apparently, a number of RSN readers don't get this. Sheesh. We're all batting for the same team here, guys.
Oh, and yes, I want to second your concern that this ignoramus is associated with a congressional committee that includes the realm of science. Even the local repug candidate deemed his comments "bizarre." I didn't get my best grade in college in biology, but even I know better than this clueless bozo. Scary, indeed.

0 # stonecutter 2012-08-21 10:52

Presuming that you mean well, elmont, you must see that there is simply no defense for the public statements of this moron, and your effort to make a defense, or explain to a lot of very smart people what he was trying to say, something you can't possibly know unless you're secretly his PR flack, is misplaced at best, and just as boneheaded and insensitive to all women as he was, at worst. But it's a free country, free speech and all that, so you can try and defend yourself...good luck.

0 # elmont 2012-08-22 19:08

Truth to tell: I spent much of the day thinking about how to reply, if at all, to this absolutely amazing post. My original statement was intended to convey the thought that we cannot allow this issue to devolve into an argument about what 'legitimate' means in the context of sexual assault. (If the spot I saw on the national news last night is any guide, this repug idiot is trying to do just that--so that he can dodge the much larger issues raised by his remarks.) How is that notion the least bit controversial? I've actually gone back and read what I wrote, and frankly, I cannot see how anyone who graduated high school can misinterpret what I said. But somehow, I am now a secret PR flack, a defender of this clown, in the know about what this guy meant (how can anyone know that?) as well as being boneheaded and insensitive. And I have to fall back on free speech to do this? Huh? How on earth can anyone suggest such things based upon what I wrote? Can they not read? Can they not think? Stonecutter, I have some pretty damn unpleasant things to say about your ability to reason, but I'm fairly sure they would not get past the RSN censors. But I'm getting a pretty good idea about why the republicans are salivating about November. A whole bunch of progressives have apparently started eating their young.

0 # stonecutter 2012-08-23 12:22

I can see you're upset and defensive and either unable or unwilling to acknowledge that you "stepped in it" with your original post. Akin based his original public statement not on some unintentional BS mistake or poor choice of words, but on unscientific, whacked out beliefs culled from Dr. John Willke, an octogenerian MD/GP with no credentials in OB-GYN medicine or research, but a history of rabid right-wing anti-abortion ideology. This shadow "expert"'s views are premised on the "bizarro" concept that a woman being "forcibly" raped (as opposed to one being raped, what, collaboratively ???!!) constrains the production of uterine hormones necessary for fertilization; therefore, ipso facto, a woman who gets pregnant during such an alleged encounter really wasn't "legitimately" raped at all, or else she could not and would not be pregnant. This quack Willke (and others) have promulgated these views for years, and the anti-abortion right, of which Akin is a prominent water-carrier in Missouri and in Congress, embraced them as a justification for the recent profusion of fascist pro-life, anti-woman legislative proposals, supported as we know by Paul Ryan and Romney among others. As I said, you may have meant no harm in your attempt to parse Akin's meaning, but attacking me and my "ability to reason" is beside the point; you FUBAR'ed, to employ and old WWII-era term of art.

+19 # panhead49 2012-08-20 10:37

elmont - I am NOT willing to grant you or Senator Headuphisass a pass on his choice of words (why does he have the right to choose but women on the other hand...). I was raped but didn't have a knife to my throat, just a guy that outweighed me by about twice my body weight. He punched me so hard in the side of my head I saw stars. Good news regarding that is he ended up dead shortly thereafter. Bad news here is this fool could well get elected.

+15 # janie1893 2012-08-20 11:29

Illegitimate rape causes pregnancy! Always opt for legitimate rape. Sounds resonable to me.

The man knows nothing of rape, women or unwanted pregnancy.

+17 # feloneouscat 2012-08-20 11:31

"In a statement, Akin later claimed he "misspoke" and that his off-the-cuff remarks did not "reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year"."

No you didn't. You didn't misspeak, you said that from what you understood from Doctors, etc etc.

That's a deliberate lie. There is no doctor on this planet that would argue that this because it is stupid.

My god, do Republicans really hate women that badly?

+12 # TrueAmericanPatriot 2012-08-20 12:42

Quoting feloneouscat:

"In a statement, Akin later claimed he "misspoke" and that his off-the-cuff remarks did not "reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year"."

No you didn't. You didn't misspeak, you said that from what you understood from Doctors, etc etc.

That's a deliberate lie. There is no doctor on this planet that would argue that this because it is stupid.

My god, do Republicans really hate women that badly?

OF COURSE THEY DO? Why else would this prehistoric pervert co-sponsor a bill with "LYIN' RYAN" to "redefine rape," making it harder for victims to get federal funding for abortions?

+4 # Art947 2012-08-20 20:09

Please notice that this ignorant, useless piece of ---- never mentioned the plight of the woman in this criminal act. He was only concerned with the potential fetus that might have been produced. Once again, a miserable Republican demonstrated his true colors -- women and children don't count. Women are only the chattel of their "superiors" and fetuses are necessary for cannon fodder in the ward that they continue to promote.

+14 # Majikman 2012-08-20 11:39

I did not think I could be further shocked by the ignorance and absolute cruelty from the repugs but once again I have been proven wrong. Toad Akin has proven that to be called a stupid republican is redundant.

+6 # CAMUS1111 2012-08-20 11:53

Akin is dating Marcus Bachmann

+4 # barbaratodish 2012-08-20 12:07

Maybe there is "PRACTICE" rape! The men who raped me were only PRACTICING to rape me they were really INTENTIONALLY "raping" themselves! rotflm(raped)ao

+7 # AlwaysAskWHY 2012-08-20 12:19

Akin must be one of Michael Moore's STUPID WHITE MEN.

+8 # JetpackAngel 2012-08-20 12:48

I cannot comment on this. Because if I do, it will contain nothing but expletives and threats of bodily harm towards this man. And I believe in not dragging myself down to a lower level. (And I will not have flashbacks. I will not have flashbacks. I will not have flashbacks.)

So I'll just leave this here:
http://dccc.org/pages/denounce-todd-akin?source=2012.08.20_kw_all
(Link to petition to remove Akin from House Science Committee)

+3 # michelle 2012-08-20 13:47

Thanks for the link. Signed it, made a donation and forwarded it to friends.Now everyone do the same.

+3 # Street Level 2012-08-20 14:34

House Science Committee? oxymoron or just plain moron. Thanks, I signed it and sending it out.

-11 # WolfTotem 2012-08-20 13:28

To attack a man for talking nonsense is like finding your mortal enemy drowning in a swamp and jumping in after him with a knife.

Karl Popper

+3 # fliteshare 2012-08-20 15:10

Yeah, but why let the swamp have all the fun ?

+10 # Larry 2012-08-20 13:30

If Mr. Akin were correct about females having some kind of fail-safe auto-off mechanism that prevents conception in the case of "legitimate" (an oxymoron if there ever was one) rape, how do we explain the hundreds of thousands of African-America n children who were born to slave women who were raped by their white masters?

Can Akin actually be that stupid?

+6 # WolfTotem 2012-08-20 15:32

Unfortunately, YES.

Better, then, not to waste our thoughts or words on suchlike. Above all, not our votes.

What's more scary is that there should be so many like him. It's our duty to ensure that they don't prevail.

+7 # Billy Bob 2012-08-20 16:56

I don't know why the repug party act like they want to suddenly drop him. Afterall, he just said what most of them think.

+3 # BlueReview 2012-08-20 18:02

To those of you who are referring to Mr. Akin as a "knuckle-dragge r": Have some compassion, willya, carpet burns can be painful and those on his knuckles must be screaming hot.

Okay, now that I've got that snarky comment out of my system, let's be fair: The attitude of "the victim had it coming" transcends party, race, religion, and yes, even gender. "The victim made me do it" has to be the oldest excuse ever used. Because it's worked. I hope the human race will evolve beyond this, but I know that it's not going to happen in my lifetime, if ever.

The concept of "forcible rape" was introduced (re-introduced? ) this last couple of years--a woman must have bruises or even broken bones to substantiate her claim of rape--completel y ignoring the possibility of threats by gun or knife, not to mention the date-rape drugs that are out there.

Making a miscarriage a matter that police should look into, with a possibility of homicide charges being filed--my sister knows a woman who miscarried twice, and told me that she was devastated by them. Now let's top that loss with a police interrogation-- such sensitivity!

"You've come a long way, baby--but now we're going to have to drag you by the hair back to the 9th Century."

+4 # Scott479 2012-08-20 19:28

Akin and Ryan: just a loving pair of dads helping rapists realize their goals of fatherhood too...

+1 # Eliza D 2012-08-21 04:41

Good news-Akin is being vilified all over the news as clips of his speech are being replayed. There are loud calls for him to withdraw from the Senate race. Hear! Hear! Thanks for the link, JetPackAngel-I have acted upon it. I pray that you find healing from your own violation, and find some comfort that your positive actions will help others.

+1 # MainStreetMentor 2012-08-21 07:11

Mr. Akin's comment is a typical representation of both the current and last two "batch" of national political candidates who lean toward the conservative extreme right, (i.e. Tea Party), and is indicative of the twisted logic they all display. It is this mentality that taints the recent political past and dooms the future or our country. Claire McCaskill, his Democratic opponent, is head and shoulders above Mr. Akin!

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