There’s a tendency on the left to praise hard line anti-choicers for their “consistency” when they oppose abortion even in the case of rape or incest. “At least,” people say, “they’re being consistent with their claim that an embryo is a real person.” It’s not like all folks who say this disagree that said anti-choicers oppose abortion because of deep-set fears about human sexuality and misogyny, but they are trying to be fair and award some sort of karma points to people whose rationalizations are more coherent.
I’ve long maintained that opposition to abortion rights even in the case of rape or incest is indeed consistent, but with overt misogyny. It’s an expression of belief that what goes on in a woman’s head never matters, not even in cases where more tender-hearted people might give women a break. It’s consistent in the way that arguing that you should get to sexually abuse animals because you can eat them is consistent. It just makes you an even uglier person. It also is, irrevocably, mixed up with a general unwillingness to take rape seriously as a crime. For example, Christine O’Donnell is running a new ad that exploits an already ugly situation---where a man’s fear and anger after he fought a rapist off his sister is turned into an internet joke---to compare being taxed to being raped, but in a jokey way that makes it clear they don’t think the original attempted rape is a real problem.* Or, to make a long story short, I think a lot of people who say “no exceptions” for rape or incest say so because they don’t think rape is a real problem, and they believe most victims brought it on themselves.
Which brings me to the Ken Buck situation. As new details emerge about the rape case he refused to prosecute, we’re beginning to get a firm picture of his attitudes towards women and about rape, and how they inform his stance against abortion rights, even for rape victims. And that picture is of a man who believes that once a woman has ceased to be a virgin, she loses all rights to bodily autonomy: she can and should be forced to partner with a man against her will, have sex with a man against her will, and bear children against her will. ...
Buck was obsessed with the fact that the victim had (gasp!) been sexually active before, and with the accused rapist. I guess once he’s stuck it in you once, you belong to him forever. |