What the hell is it with Republicans and rape?! First, Missouri Republican Todd Akin landed in hot water for claiming that “legitimate rape” would never result in pregnancy because the woman’s body was smart enough to self-abort in those situations. You know, sort of like a self-cleaning oven.
Yeah, that whole thing didn’t go over so well and Mitt Romney was quick to distance himself from Akin’s dicey words once the backlash started popping off.
But now, another Republican has thrown himself in the middle of a rape quagmire. Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said that he doesn’t support abortion even in cases of rape because “it is something that God intended to happen.”
His full quote is below:
“The only exception I have to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother,” said Mourdock, the Tea Party-backed state treasurer. “I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
Well, damn. Does that mean if we have the opportunity to stop a bank hold-up that we shouldn’t? Because obviously, God wanted that man to get that money he was after.
What about people who get stabbed or shot? They should probably just console themselves and say, “Hey, it’s what God would’ve wanted.”
Surprisingly, Mitt Romney didn’t throw his Republican colleague under the bus this time. He hasn’t asked Mourdock to take down his support ad and according to reports, Romney’s team is dodging questions about the subject as much as they dodge questions about Romney’s unreleased tax returns.
We know that questions of free will vs. determinism are complex and difficult to sort out, but we can’t but think that maybe Richard Mourdock should fall back on speaking for God in cases like these.
[Seattle Times, Huffington Post]
