News and views from the award-winning author of the novels The Skinny Years, America Libre, House Divided and Pancho Land

Monday, August 20, 2012

Sadly, Akin is more consistent on abortion than Romney & Ryan


During an interview on a St. Louis television station, U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin said he was opposed to abortion -- even in instances of rape.

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said of pregnancies from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

The outrage at Akin's comments even reached the GOP presidential nominees.

“Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement,” a campaign spokesman for the GOP candidates said. “A Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.”

However, Akin's position on abortion is more consistent than that of Romney and Ryan who support abortion only in cases of rape. Here's why: If a fertilized egg is indeed "innocent life", then ending any life would be murder -- even in the case of rape. Would Romney and Ryan favor euthanizing infants of rape if the pregnancy came to term? 

Of course, this warped logic assumes a woman is subservient to one of her fertilized eggs and she has no right to make a choice about her own body. And therein lies the reason why most people are reluctant to intrude on the reproductive rights of women.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez