Veteran politician reignites rape row
A UNITED States congressman, trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, has reignited a controversy from last year’s election by claiming that a former colleague was partially correct when he said that women’s bodies have a way of shutting down to avoid pregnancy in cases of ‘‘legitimate rape’’.
Phil Gingrey said former Missouri congressman Todd Akin was ‘‘partly right’’ when he made the claims during a failed run for the US Senate.
However, Gingrey, a six- term Republican lawmaker from Georgia, issued a statement yesterday, the day after he made his comments, saying his position was misconstrued and that he neither defended nor stood by Akin’s remark.
Another Republican Senate candidate, Richard Murdoch, tripped up after saying that a child born as a result of rape was ‘‘something God intended’’.
‘‘ Part of the reason the [Democrats] still control the Senate is because of comments made in Missouri by Todd Akin and Indiana by Murdoch were considered a little bit over the top,’’ Gingrey said at a breakfast with constituents on Friday, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.
‘‘Todd Akin was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’. And 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. 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.’’
Gingrey said he had been an obstetrician and gynaecologist since 1975 and understood pregnancies. ‘‘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?’’ Gingrey said. ‘‘
Gingrey’s comments drew widespread criticism.
‘‘Just when I think Republicans can’t possibly be any more wrong when it comes to women, they find a new low,’’ said Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily’s List, a pro- choice organisation that supports Democratic candidates.