At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican from Arizona, argued against an exception for rape and incest victims from a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. He said, “Before, when my friends on the left side of the aisle here tried to make rape and incest the subject—because, you know, the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low.” He is of course following in the footsteps of former Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, who said that women can stave off pregnancy after a “legitimate rape.” (He apologized but that didn’t save him from losing his next election.)
These claims are false, of course, or as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists puts it, “medically inaccurate, offensive, and dangerous.” That is not all that’s wrong with the claims. They originate with Nazi experiments on women in concentration camps. Here’s what I wrote about this last November “
In the aftermath of Akin’s statement, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a 1972 essay by an obstetrician named Fred Mecklenburg, who cited a Nazi experiment in which women were told they were on their way to die in the gas chambers—and then were allowed to live, so that doctors could check whether they would still ovulate. Since few did, Mecklenburg claimed that women exposed to the emotional trauma of rape wouldn’t be able to become pregnant, either. (He also argued that rapists are infertile because they masturbate a lot.) The essay was published in a book financed by A.U.L.”
A.U.L. is Americans United for Life, a pro-life advocacy group with increasing clout because of its success in drafting model state laws to restrict abortion. The line from the Nazis to Mecklenberg to Akin and Frank runs through Jack Wilke, a doctor who is the former head of the National Right to Life Committee. He said, "What is certainly one of the most important reasons why a rape victim rarely gets pregnant, and that's physical trauma."
Republicans using research from Nazi Germany in their War on Women.
Damn, even I did not see THAT coming!
"Rapists are infertile because they masturbate a lot?" Forehead meets desk.
ReplyDeleteHe being raped would not end up in a pregnancy either, but we shouldn't wish it on him. Why are they so cavalier about rape?
ReplyDeleteBy the by - for a woman we all know used the word as of it were going out of style until shackled by a scam / pr stunt) Sarah's threatening to beat Bill maher's Lilly white ass for using the R word. (He shouldn't of said it in reference to Trig, it should always be used against his Special Needs Mother.) http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3432221?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Does anyone have a link to the episode Palin is referring to? I would like to see the context in which he 'attacked Trig' using the R word.
DeleteA black man in the white house (most powerful person in the world!) awoke their inner Nazi. Now it’s spilling out when they open their mouths. Hillary on the horizon upsets them as well.
ReplyDeleteHow poorly informed and vicious these guys are! I’ve seen that with older white men for a long time, but it always startles me. I know they tend to share dumb ideas with each other rather than self-educate. Thank goodness the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is blunt.
OK, the results of the study may be true, but how does that translate that a raped woman won't get pregnant? To get pregnant, you have sex when you're ovulating, not before.
ReplyDeleteNot always true. Sperm are able to live sometimes 3-5 days in the uterus after sex.
DeleteGee, then just how did young Tripp arrive when BP could have just "shut that whole thing down" after her wine cooler evening in paradise??
ReplyDeleteWell, that's because she hadn't been starved by nazis first, over a prolonged period of time. Your answer was in jest and to the point, but my comment is for the rightie lurkers on this site.
DeleteWell of course if it were REAL rape the woman wouldn't have gotten pregnant! She's just a lyin' slut who's claiming rape so she won't have to deal with the consequences of her slut-like actions! Good repubes are just here to protect those innocent little lives (though they won't give two good f*cks when it's an actual living, breathing person)!
ReplyDeleteThis is just one more way for republislugs to attempt to move the goal post as they further chip away at women's reproduction rights. To them, rape doesn't cause pregnancy so there's no need to make special considerations.
And after all, they've already 'proved' (not) that rape by NAZIS does not cause pregnancy, so in their minds that gives them a green light to commit rape of people who oppose nazi policies, whenever and wherever they choose).
DeleteI dunno, Gryphen, seems like you're not giving The Grand Ol' Party credit for trying to find the good in Nazism. Sure the Nazis did some "hinky" things that in retrospect probably were rather somewhat arguably perhaps a bit ill-advised, like starting World War II, but that's not the totality of Nazism. What about their perfecting of genocidal techniques that are still highly respected by despots to this day? The Holocaust had its bad points, sure, but you can't deny it was VERY efficient!
ReplyDeleteSo, back off on the GOP, will ya! They're clearly flailing at the moment and searching for ideological direction and inspiration. It happens to a lot of organizations and even some individuals. Didnt YOU have a doofus stage at some point in your life???
Anyway, if Nazism is found lacking, maybe they can check out that Joseph Stalin fella. I hear, he did some solid work in the late 40's and early 50's that might supply ideas to the Repubs.
Keep looking, GOP! History has no shortage of evil, controlling, dictatorships to inspire y'all!
Why won't these assholes admit that during a rape the man can't get an unwilling pussy pregnant. OR During rape sperm doesn't move up the canal rather it tries to swim in reverse. OR men shoot blanks during rape.
ReplyDeleteMakes just as much sense.
Of course, the fact that the German women had been previously starved by the nazis had absolutely NOTHING to do with their inability to conceive. Naaaaaaaw. After all, in rightie-world such a suggestion would consist of subversive thinking along the lines of: logic, or cause and effect. Such thinking would be labeled as dangerous, radical, socialist, and even . . . . elitist.
ReplyDelete"One" of the problems with some conservatives is they do not hear this shit. They only watch Fox News and live in a bubble. I work with a conservative. As far as animals and rescue work she is a great person who goes out of her way a thousand times over. She is just beginning to learn more. She figured out by now that all liberals are not so bad. Now to get her to read or watch other news sources. One step at a time.
ReplyDeleteI detest the Republican men of today! I hope they get their asses kicked in the next election cycle.
ReplyDeleteIt's going to take promoting the vote by each of us - as the Republicans have done everything they can do to block the vote of various kinds of people throughout the nation. We've got to vote in the numbers that did last time!
I detest the republican men AND WOMEN of today!
DeleteSomeone needs to demand Franks, Akins, and their ilk explain how Michelle Knight became pregnant five times while held captive by Ariel Castro for 11 nightmarish years. Each time Castro starved her for at least two weeks, then repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried.
ReplyDeleteThese Neanderthals disgust me. How any woman (or man who has a special woman in his life) could support Republicans these days is beyond me.
Of course, she must have secretly WANTED to become pregnant. After all, she was living such a wonderful, pampered life, right???
DeleteWhat I can't understand is how these men have any females in their lives. Mothers, sisters, wives, daughters...how do those women accept that kind of misogynistic belief?
Guess that theory proves Bristol was not raped in that tent. Ha!!
ReplyDeleteIf it was a one time incident, I might be able to give it a pass, if the person corrected their mistake and apologized for their stupidity, but it's been happening too many times with these GOP asshats. Rape, Fertility, basic science and biological truth is enough to refute their stupid association with rape having to do mostly with sex. It's about power and violence, and no amount of masturbating would lower a rapist's ability to impregnate a woman.
ReplyDeleteThis reliance on Nazi Apologist "science" is beyond the pale. Vote them all out!