They actually gave this man a medical degree
Hey, kids, have you recovered yet from that time in January when Rep. Phil Gingrey—who is an OB/GYN (that's fancy talk for lady parts doctor) and co-chair of the
GOP Doctors Caucus (because yes, that actually exists)—
explained that Todd Akin was actually "partly right" about his theory that in cases of "legitimate rape," women's mysteriously magical lady parts can detect and deflect rape sperm? And Rep. Gingrey MD had the science to back it up:
We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.’ So he was partially right wasn’t he?
Well ... Now that Gingrey is considering a Senate run in Georgia, he's trying to clean up his record a bit. And since the Republican talking point
du jour is that candidates should
avoid these awkward "Todd Akin" moments and stop saying stupid shit about rape, he's had a change of medical opinion. The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
“I made a very awkward attempt to explain the unexplainable,” he said, admitting the resulting political damage has been self-inflicted. [...]
Gingrey said he has had conversations with James Breeden, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “We went over articles and more recent journals,” the congressman said.
“Whereas Todd said the panic would cause a body to shut down and prevent ovulation, more recent data suggests just the opposite is probably true,” the physician-congressman said. Adrenaline is more likely to spur ovulation, he said.
“So you learn,” Gingrey said.
Damnit! Don't you just hate when "more recent data" completely contradicts what you insisted, in your
medical opinion, was true? How shocked will he be to learn that illness is not caused by tiny demons living inside your body? Or that Jesus did not actually ride a dinosaur? Or that the Earth is not, in fact, the center of the universe, as the Catholic Church discovered in the '90s. The
1990s. Oops! Sorry, Galileo.
Still, nice to know Gingrey's at least willing to learn—which is more than can be said for most of his party.