If only facts had currency, in the realm of the self-righteous ...
Akin remarks on rape offer window into religious right
by Bonnie Erbe, The Dickinson Press -- August 23, 2012
[...]
It is now unanimously agreed that Rep. Todd Akin’s ridiculous remarks about “legitimate rape” and about the female body being able to fend off pregnancy after rape are mind-boggling and precedent setting. They are mind boggling because they show an astounding level of ignorance about human biology. They are precedent setting because never before has a member of Congress and candidate for the U.S. Senate displayed such ignorance in public.
[...]
Excuse me, but there is absolutely no truth whatsoever that women’s bodies can prevent them from becoming pregnant during rape. This is just as flawed a claim as the one right-wing extremists tossed about in the ‘90s and during the last decade that women who had abortions were more likely to come down with breast cancer. This claim was widely denounced by the scientific and medical community and has since crawled back into the nonsensical hole from whence it emerged.
[...]
The rape/pregnancy lies enunciated by Akin, a Missouri Republican, and reinforced by his kin in the extreme right also included the claim that pregnancy from rape is “really rare.” According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, it is not rare at all. In fact, an estimated 25,000 American women become pregnant as a result of rape each year. In addition, the center reports 12 percent of women experience sexual assault during their lifetimes and almost 5 percent of those assaults result in pregnancy.
[...]
If only compassion had weight, in the club of the morality police ...
Rape & Sexual Assault
FACTS:
-- 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime
-- Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone, male or female, is sexually assaulted.
-- One in four college women report surviving rape (15 percent) or attempted rape (12 percent).
-- Rape victims have been found to be 8.7 times more likely to attempt suicide.
-- 64% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date.
-- More than 70% of sexual assault victims know their attacker.
-- 1.3 women are sexually assaulted every minute.
-- In a single year, over 90,000 women in the United States report a rape to law enforcement officials.
-- Each year, it is estimated 25,000 American women will become pregnant following an act of sexual violence.
(Sources: National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey, Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Warsaw, R. I Never Called It Rape. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, An Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence Aid and Resource Collection, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000, Stewart, Felicia and Trussel, James. "Prevention of Pregnancy Resulting from Rape." American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2000.)
Fighting Spirit Warriors
-- Jillian Bullock Enterprises, LLC
If only commonsense could win out, in the land that 'severe conservatism' has wrought.
Bonnie Erbe concludes her insightful post:
The bigger question, however, is when are party leaders going to realize their embrace of the antiquated thinking of the religious right is an albatross, not an advantage? And when are they going to toss them overboard like the detritus they have proven to be?
[ -- Erbe, a TV host, writes this column for Scripps Howard News Service.]
I'd give them about 25 years ... and then, primarily due to an attrition of the old school dominion, and not due the sudden realization that we have 'a separation of church and state' for a reason. For several good reasons, actually.
Of course, that would mean the albatross has somehow managed to obtain compassion, commonsense, and a respect for facts. Here's to hoping their change happens faster than molasses ...