It's been amusing to watch conservatives disavow Akin's statements on rape and pregnancy. This is first time in a long while (that I can recall) so many conservatives standing in line to so heartily and loudly disavow something one of their peers has said.
But the GOP side show caused by Akin isn't really central to my main point and I'll make my point brief. I am incensed because even though Akin was trying to defend an across-the-board prohibition on abortion, he ended talking about rape. In doing so, he tried to minimize the physical and psychological trauma of rape victims. And in the subtext of his comments, he makes rape an acceptable form of birth control.
In case you didn't catch me saying it the first time, Akin makes a case for rape as birth control. What troubles me most is the message that this could possibly send to the American public. Are we going to start see suspected rapists using this defense in court? "Your honor, I raped her so she wouldn't get pregnant." Or could we start seeing conservative family plannning clinics talking about rape as a family planning strategy?
I realize I am verging on the absurd, but I don't think I am out of line. This is just another example of the GOP trying to talk women's issues back to the Dark Ages. And I am not amused by their attempt.
I am a woman, and I am sick of politicians using my body as a political weapon against me. This is the 21st century after all, but the way some politicians act you would think that Roe v. Wade just got passed yesterday. Women will never truly be considered equal as long as there are conservatives who think that preventing access to vital reproductive services is their god-given right.
