Are they ever going to learn? Another conservative lawmaker jumps in on rape/Akin

[oragator1]

A congressman from GA decided to try and defend Akin's rape comments. Didn't go over too well. If someone asks you about rape, say it's awful and then stop talking.

He is an OB/GYN so he certainly shouldn't be ignorant, but his logic is bizarre, the national OB/GYN association disowned him and his comments in about 5 minutes.

Rep. Phil Gingrey’s attempts to explain Todd Akin’s rape remarks are leaving many Republicans beyond frustrated that a few in their party can’t help but insert rape into the already contentious abortion debate.
“This is actually pretty simple. If you’re about to talk about rape as anything other than a brutal and horrible crime, stop,” said Republican strategist Kevin Madden, who was a senior adviser in Mitt Romney’s campaign.
On Thursday, the Georgia Republican didn’t heed that advice, telling a local Chamber of Commerce breakfast that Akin was “partially right” when he said last year that a woman can stop herself from getting pregnant.
“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,’” Gingrey said.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...082.html?hp=t1

[fairfaxgator]

That is scurry...yikes!

[JerseyGator01]

They should know by now that the fetus is just a blob of tissue. Ignore those 3-D ultrasound images.

CORRUPTION RULES!!!!!

[northgagator]

Oragator, what is go wrong about Gingrey's statement? All was doing was clarifying a point. He was not saying Adkin was correct.

[Dreamliner]

I don't see this as an intractable problem. The GOP just needs to bring in Biden. He'll help them find the 'silver bullet.'

[oragator1]

Originally Posted by northgagator

Oragator, what is go wrong about Gingrey's statement? All was doing was clarifying a point. He was not saying Adkin was correct.

You mean beyond the fact that ovulation is rarely if ever going to have anything to do with rape and childbirth, and that his "relax"' mantra was completely disowned by everyone else who is an expert, and that he was saying all this (wrong) stuff to try and help a guy(he said he was partially right) who not only said something indefensible but refused to get out of the race and cost the pubs a seat and probably hurt Romney in the process, at a time when now the republican party is trying to get past it's mistakes and reach out to women?
Not much.

[oragator1]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

I don't see this as an intractable problem. The GOP just needs to bring in Biden. He'll help them find the 'silver bullet.'

Every time I see Biden is about to speak I get the popcorn out. Something quotable is coming.

[Gatorgal04]

Originally Posted by northgagator

Oragator, what is go wrong about Gingrey's statement? All was doing was clarifying a point. He was not saying Adkin was correct.

He just told rape victims it's their fault if they got pregnant because they didn't stay uptight long enough to not ovulate.

[GatorMid]

Originally Posted by Gatorgal04

He just told rape victims it's their fault if they got pregnant because they didn't stay uptight long enough to not ovulate.

Not sure if serious...

[Gatorgal04]

Serious. Just giving you one female's interpretation, but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be the only one. The Republican strategist is correct - just stop!

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by Gatorgal04

He just told rape victims it's their fault if they got pregnant because they didn't stay uptight long enough to not ovulate.

Wow, you got a very perceptive reading comprehension. Please show me where he said that.

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by Gatorgal04

Serious. Just giving you one female's interpretation, but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be the only one. The Republican strategist is correct - just stop!

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,’” Gingrey said.

You do know that Gingrey was addressing couples trying to conceive and not rape or potential rape victims?

[kygator]

Originally Posted by Gatorgal04

Serious. Just giving you one female's interpretation, but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be the only one. The Republican strategist is correct - just stop!

I agree with that part. A lot of people interpret things incorrectly.

[mdgator05]

Originally Posted by northgagator

You do know that Gingrey was addressing couples trying to conceive and not rape or potential rape victims?

You realize he is comparing rape victims to those couples trying to conceive, right? He is saying that since non-relaxed rape victims sometimes have trouble conceiving, that means true rape victims, who would presumably not be relaxed, should have trouble conceiving. That is why he said Akin was "partially right."

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by mdgator05

You realize he is comparing rape victims to those couples trying to conceive, right? He is saying that since non-relaxed rape victims sometimes have trouble conceiving, that means true rape victims, who would presumably not be relaxed, should have trouble conceiving. That is why he said Akin was "partially right."

This is the actual comparison he made

In Missouri, Todd Akin ... was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, "Look, in a legitimate rape situation" -- what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that's pretty tough and might on some occasion say, "Hey, I was raped." That's what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that. ...

And I've delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. 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? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman's body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak. And yet the media took that and tore it apart.

He is state that after ovulating there is not much a woman's body can do to prevent a pregnancy.

Where I differ with Gingrey is his 100% Pro Life stance. This is an issue that has way too many gray areas for anyone ion either side to be so black or white on.

As for myself I am pro life but I do not expect or force anyone else to be it is a personal decision between the woman her belief system (man can be included). Nor do I judge people in their decision. That is a job for a higher authority than a human.

[mdgator05]

Originally Posted by northgagator

This is the actual comparison he made


He is state that after ovulating there is not much a woman's body can do to prevent a pregnancy.

Where I differ with Gingrey is his 100% Pro Life stance. This is an issue that has way too many gray areas for anyone ion either side to be so black or white on.

As for myself I am pro life but I do not expect or force anyone else to be it is a personal decision between the woman her belief system (man can be included). Nor do I judge people in their decision. That is a job for a higher authority than a human.

I do tend to agree with you on your position. However, he clearly is again trying to separate "legitimate rape," in which the woman is not relaxed, from women lying about rape, as typified in the first paragraph. Rape is such a difficult crime for many women to report as it is, partially because of the questioning over whether they are just lying. Rep. Gingrey is not helping matters in any way, and in fact is saying Akin is somewhat right, since truly raped women will be less likely to get pregnant if they haven't previously ovulated.

[Gatorgal04]

Perception is reality and the Republicans are already behind the 8-ball on this one. It's a lose-lose if you care about the female vote. Everytime someone says something, you take the chance of it being interpreted in many ways - several of which can equal open mouth, insert foot. Just stop!

[northgagator]

Originally Posted by mdgator05

I do tend to agree with you on your position. However, he clearly is again trying to separate "legitimate rape," in which the woman is not relaxed, from women lying about rape, as typified in the first paragraph. Rape is such a difficult crime for many women to report as it is, partially because of the questioning over whether they are just lying. Rep. Gingrey is not helping matters in any way, and in fact is saying Akin is somewhat right, since truly raped women will be less likely to get pregnant if they haven't previously ovulated.

In spite of our differences we do share some common ground. I retread your post and I do agree with what you said.

[oragator1]

Honestly, the bottom line should be this, and I should have put it in my original post:

If anyone pro life even in the case of rape and incest is asked about rape, they should simply say "It's awful and what the mother goes through is unimaginable, but the baby inside her as 100% innocent and shouldn't have to lose it's life. Yes some may think that's unfair to the mother and a woman in that position has everyone's sympathy and prayers, but a life is a life regardless of how tragic the circumstances were in which it was was created".
Ignore Akin references, ignore any mental gymnastics to justify their positions, just be honest and forthright and either people will agree or won't. But all of this "forced rape", "legitimate rape", "ways of stopping it" business makes the GOP look like medieval aristocrats who know best for others even if they are all old white men speaking on behalf of women and other groups they can't necessarily speak for, and doing it in direct opposition to basic science either willfully or out of ignorance .
I care about this because I want a republican party that is a good alternative, but the fact that the dems right now are considered the sane ones by the majority of the country should tell you how far off the reservation they have gone. If the republicans allow idiocy like this to continue it ruins their credibility across the board, on things that truly matter to the public like the deficit etc. It is also an indicator of how fast they are falling out of the mainstream socially, which isn't tenable long term either. Let the social wars go and focus on the things they can actually win.