Reuters, August 25, 2012 by Carey Gillam Eric Scheidler was in grade school when he was introduced to the power of John Willke’s persuasion. It was the 1970s and the now 87-year-old Dr. “Jack” Willke was renowned as a physician-turned-advocate for abolishing abortion. Willke’s teachings resonated four decades later in the controversy this week over […]
August 24, 2012
Washington Post, August 24, 2012 by AP COLUMBUS, Ohio — The discredited notion that a woman’s body can resist conception in a sexual assault has persisted in anti-abortion circles for decades, largely because of the efforts of a Cincinnati obstetrician who is considered a godfather of the movement. Dr. John C. “Jack” Willke founded the […]
August 24, 2012
NPR, August 24, 2012 by Kathy Lohr Since Republican Rep. Todd Akin first said the words “legitimate rape” Sunday, just about everyone in the Republican Party has condemned those comments. The Missouri Senate candidate later apologized, but his remarks continue to drive the political debate. They’ve also raised questions about the anti-abortion record of the […]
August 23, 2012
YouTube, August 23, 2012 by Douglas H. Ryder
August 23, 2012
CNN, August 23, 2012 by Shauna Prewitt Chicago, Illinois (CNN) — When I was in law school, my criminal law professor introduced us to the crime of rape by reading us a quote from Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century English jurist: “In a rape case it is the victim, not the defendant, […]
August 21, 2012
Mother Jones, August 21, 2012 by Kate Sheppard In what will probably strike many people as a monumentally tone-deaf move, the GOP plans to include a plank in its 2012 platform calling for an amendment that would outlaw abortions under any circumstance. CNN reported on the draft language it obtained on Monday night, and the platform committee […]
August 20, 2012
Jezebel, August 20, 2012 by Katie J.M. Baker Yesterday, Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, Republican Senate nominee and member of the House Science, Space and Technology committee, said pregnancy from rape was “really rare” because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin quickly said […]
August 20, 2012
Salon, August 20, 2012 by Irin Carmon Todd Akin’s right about this much: Rape exceptions are wrong. You either believe in bodily autonomy, or you don’t Todd Akin may know nothing about biology, and may have been too honest for his own good about his own contempt for women, but I agree with him on […]
August 20, 2012
The American Prospect, August 20, 2012 by Amanda Marcotte The myth that women can’t get pregnant from rape stems from basic assumptions anti-choicers make about women. If you’re going to slander the estimated 32,000 women a year who become pregnant after being raped, it’s probably not wise to do it on a Sunday, when it […]
August 20, 2012
New York Times Editorial, August 20, 2012 Republicans are frantically trying to get Representative Todd Akin to drop out of the United States Senate race in Missouri after his remark about abortion and rape, but not because it was offensive and ignorant. They’re afraid he might lose and cost them a chance at a Senate […]
August 20, 2012
CNN, August 20, 2012 by Peter Hamby The Republican Party is once again set to enshrine into its official platform support for “a human life amendment” to the Constitution that would outlaw abortion without making explicit exemptions for rape or incest, according to draft language of the platform obtained exclusively by CNN late Monday. “Faithful […]
August 20, 2012
Unite Women, August 20, 2012 by Renee Davis I am a woman, a survivor of rape, and a registered Republican. You have issued an apology for the uneducated “off the cuff” remark you made where you stated “from what I understand from doctors, pregnancy [ as a result of rape] is really rare. If it […]
August 20, 2012
Huffington Post, August 20, 2012 by Jeanna Bryner When a viable sperm penetrates a viable egg inside a woman’s reproductive tract, the result is a fertilized egg that can then implant in the uterus. That fact of life is consistent regardless of how that sperm and egg met up, including whether or not the sperm […]
August 20, 2012
Reuters, August 20, 2012 by Susan Heavey Republican Representative Todd Akin resisted pressure to quit the Senate race in Missouri on Tuesday, releasing a new ad apologizing for his inflammatory remarks about rape that have reinserted controversial abortion politics into the presidential campaign. In an ad released online, Akin again apologized for his comments Sunday, […]
War on Women 
August 25, 2012
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