In the media narrative of election campaigns, there are gaffes. And when somebody makes a gaffe, you are supposed to do something to repair it, like clarify, or apologize, or fire somebody, or something. And then we move on to the next news cycle and forget about it.
What Todd Akin said about "legitimate" rape could be viewed as a gaffe. In his mind it is one misspoken word. In the minds of the people controlling the Republican party and the Romney campaign, they understand that Todd Akin is suddenly toxic and they want to put some distance between them and him. So they urge him to quit and stop supporting his campaign and clarify that the Romney-Ryan position on abortion is different from Akin's.
But the Republican platform just approved a plank supporting the proposed Human Life Amendment to the Constitution, that has no exceptions for rape or incest. That means there is no difference between the official Republican position and the position of Todd Akin. The only difference is that Todd Akin is the victim of some old wives' tales about how women can't get pregnant unless they somehow want the child.
To understand why the Republican platform adopts the extreme position on abortion that does not allow any exceptions except to save the life of the mother, you have to remember that people supporting this position believe that a ferilized embryo is a human being with all of the rights of an actual breathing human being. If you profess to believe that, how could you sanction the deliberate destruction of a fertilized embryo or fetus at any stage of development, regardless of how it came into being? You would still have to call it murder or your whole moral position collapses. If you make an exception for the destruction of a fetus that was the product of rape or incest, you might as well declare open season on the actual breathing products of rape or incest who walk among us. The only way to recognize that abortion might be justified in cases of rape and incest is to accept that there might be some differences between actual breathing human beings, and those who are still developing in the womb. Or at least to grant women the freedom to make that distinction themselves.
So why vilify Todd Akin if Romney and Ryan support the exact same position? You could even make the argument that Todd Akin, ignorant and unscientific as he is, is less punitive toward women whom the Republican platform wants to force to carry their unwanted pregnancies to term. At least Akin can claim the excuse that he thinks that hardly ever happens in cases of rape. But if Romney and Ryan understand that lots of women do in fact get pregnant as a result of rape, they can only justify their support of the extreme Republican position by saying that they have no sympathy for women whom they would force to bear the children of their rapists or their fathers or uncles. Even though they know that rape and incest cause pregnancy, they still want to deny those women the choice of ending those pregnancies.
As for Todd Akin, maybe we should thank him for exposing the position of the Republican party on this issue.
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