You've got to be kidding me.
Paul Ryan: 'Forcible Rape' Reference Just 'Stock Language'
GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Monday he supported removing the term "forcible rape" from his bill banning taxpayer funding for abortions, claiming it was included only as "stock language" and not to limit the definition of rape.
"Rape is rape, period," Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, said in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier. "This is language that was stock language used for lots of different bills, bills I didn't author, and that language was removed to be very clear and I agree with that. Removing that language so we are very clear. Rape is rape, period, end of story."
Really? "Forcible rape" is "stock language" that's used for "lots of different bills"???
Really, Mr. Ryan? Stock language? Like, legal boilerplate? Just what are some of the "lots of different bills" that use the term "forcible rape" as part of their boilerplate language??
Yes, I can see it now:
--Agricultural omnibus funding bills that require the phrase "forcible rape" to be included.
--Naming a post office requires "forcible rape" in the language.
--How about a declaration honoring some citizen's contribution to society? I'm sure "forcible rape" has to be thrown in there somewhere...
Update: OK, I decided to check Thomas.gov to see just how many other bills have used the phrase "forcible rape". In Ryan's "defense", there have been a total of 25 House Bills introduced since he took office in 1999 that have used that phrase.
Most of these relate to things like rape prevention funding (which Ryan didn't bother supporting) and increasing penalties for child rapists (which, again, Ryan didn't bother supporting, as far as I can tell). The rest, predictably, relate to denying federal funds for abortion.
Now, whether 25 bills counts as "a lot" spread out over 14 years depends on your point of view.
However, here's where it gets interesting: In the past 3 1/2 years, as far as I can tell, Ryan has co-sponsored three bills that include language denying abortion coverage to non-"forcible" rape victims: The one from last year and two more from the previous Congress...which means he had two other opportunities to "remove that language" and chose to leave it in.
As SpammNunn notes in the comments, until this year, the FBI's official definition of "forcible rape" was stated as:
Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.
This may explain why the phrase has been used in other bills, but it sure as hell doesn't explain why none of the GOP's anti-abortion bills bothered to
add "other sex offenses" (unconscious/drunk/incapacitated victim, mentally retarded victim, etc) to the earlier bills. Basically, the only reason they removed the "forcible" language was because they got busted on it this time around.
(As an aside, thank God the FBI finally updated their official definition this year, to "The penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” The definition is used by the FBI to collect information from local law enforcement agencies about reported rapes.")