I feel really very sorry for Congressman Akin. Even though he was confused about the biology of how pregnancy works, I understood exactly what Congressman Akin was saying. He was saying that it is very, very rare for a rape victim to fall pregnant. And, in the case, that she did, it is morally unjust to murder the child for the crime of his father. Mr. Akin is right, of course, and the media is using him to hammer into everyone's head the radical feminist agenda. His own political party, the Republicans, are using him to pander to the secular, modernist voting bloc, because that is who they believe they need to win elections. Personally, I think it's incredibly important to look at the issues, because many Catholics will be voting in this election.
We have some real problems in this country and some of them stem primarily from the use or misuse of terms and language. Mr. Akin used the term "legitimate rape." Now any reasonable person knows perfectly well what that means. In spite of what the media is telling you or what the law defines, there ARE different kinds of rape. Rape is a crime, but so are theft, robbery, and murder. There are several different types of theft all carrying penalties related to how this crime is committed and under what circumstances: extortion, theft by deception, shoplifting, carjacking, theft of service, receiving stolen property, identity theft, etc. Robbery, of course, is a form of theft but is more egregious because the theft happens in the owner's presence, willfully, and with violence. There are different types of robbery, also, like armed robbery, home invasion, breaking and entering, aggravated robbery, etc. These offenses, too, come with varying penalties and punishments regarding the circumstances. Murder, yet again, has various classifications and punishments. There's capital murder, manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, vehicular homicide, felony murder, etc. And while all of these crimes are terrible and horrible trespasses on our citizens, they do have varying degrees of seriousness.
Rape, as horrible as it is, is this way as well. There is rape by force, rape by coercion, marital rape, acquaintance rape, drug induced rape, etc. They are all crimes, yes, but they carry with them different penalties regarding the circumstances. Yes, all rape is horrible, but some rapes are worse than others. But what's worse about rape than the above mentioned crimes, is that it is often difficult to prove, and often places the victim's behavior under the spotlight. For this reason, many, many women never report that they have been raped and many rapists never are arrested or convicted. And precisely because rape is so hard to prove, it can be hard to disprove as well. That's the reason many women have claimed rape or faked rape out of revenge, guilt, or to cover their own sexual misadventures. The plot of Nell Harper's To Kill a Mockingbird centers around just such an injustice. Think my statement is unfair to women? Here's a bit of news that the media doesn't want to bring to anyone's attention.
Women fake rape all the time. In 2002, a young 17 year-old football player had a bright future. A class-mate charged him with kidnapping and rape. He plead non-contest at the advice of his lawyer, served 6 years in jail, and the school system paid the girl $1.5 million. 10 years later, she admitted she lied. In the spring of this year, a woman in California claimed she had been attacked from behind and sexually assaulted. She later came forth to tell the police that she had lied about the assault. Two women in Fort Collins, Colorado accused three men of drugging and raping them in January of this year. Those two women have since been arrested for lying and extortion. There is also the story of the young teenager who was charged with raping a friend. He plead guilty on the advice of his lawyer. After the young man went to prison, his accuser recanted. It took the Virginia Supreme Court to finally determine that he was falsely accused and improperly counseled, allowing his name to be removed from the sex offender registry.
These are just a few cases that I could find easily with a Google search. Who knows how many cases of fake rape women report each year. The point is, it is not unheard of. And who knows how many women, past and present, who discover they are pregnant and claim they were raped or coerced. In fact, sometimes women get drunk, go home with men, regret it the next day and charge that they were raped. Often, these men, who freely admit the events that happened, are found guilty and spend long periods of time behind bars. It's a mess! So in Mr. Akin's defense, his term "legitimate rape" makes a whole lotta sense to me.
But, for the sake of argument, let's consider that a woman is raped and she does fall pregnant. What in the world to do about that? First of all, no one is certain how many actual rape victims fall pregnant at the hands of their rapist. It is estimated that the number is between 1-5%. Of that number, no one is certain how many of those women have abortions, how many keep their children, and how many are put up for adoption. What is clear, though, is that induced abortions as the result of rape makes up only a small percentage of the abortions performed in this country. In fact, the Guttmacher Institute reports that only 1% of women seeking abortion have been forced to have sex against their will. Because facilities are not required by law to report how many abortions they perform, abortion statistics in the U.S are only estimates gathered from the CDC and Planned Parenthood. The estimate is that 1.2 million babies died from abortion last year. If the statistics are correct, then that means over 100,000 of those babies were babies of rape victims. In some people's view, that is 100,000 women did not have to suffer unnecessarily at the hands of her rapist by carrying the child, the reminder of such trama, to term. Compassionate, right?
The fundamental issue that really lies beneath abortion and abortion laws in this country is primarily one of language and technicality. You see, in terms of the law, unborn babies in their mother's wombs, are not people and they are not citizens of the United States. This is a very important distinction, legally, because under the Constitution then, they are not guaranteed any rights at all. It's called Due Process. It's a pretty ambiguous legal term but it is that clause that permits all woman to have an abortion in this country. Under Due Process, everyone has a right to privacy, including when it involves a pregnancy. In other words, a woman's pregnancy is purely a medical condition and a woman has the right to seek whatever treatment she chooses to treat that condition. It is the liberal, feminist, ace-in-the-hole, if you will. Under these terms, already defined by Roe v. Wade, pregnancy is a health condition, the "fetus" is a blob of tissue, and the woman can "choose" to do with it what she wants. Induced abortion, the intentional expulsion of the products of conception through medicine or instrumentation, is THE cornerstone of feminism. In real terms, it is perfectly legal to kill an unborn child by poison, stabbing with a sharp object, burning with acid, and dismemberment to remove it from its mother's womb as long as the mother chooses to do so. And as long as we continue to consider pregnancy as a health condition and not a process by which new human beings come into existence, we will continue to face the wrath of Our Lord over the direct bloodshed of 1.2 million innocent children.
Personally, I think Congressman Akin is a lot braver than most politicians. He approached the abortion issue from the only completely logical avenue can be taken. If it is true that unborn babies are people, then there can never be one single reason to allow for their execution. Since they are not capable of acting in any capacity, they cannot be found guilty of any crimes committed. They are 100% innocent. Since that is true, they cannot be convicted and found worthy of death. They have a right, as persons, to live. Ending their innocent lives would be willful murder, a sin most grievous that it cries out to Heaven for vengeance. As such, no God-fearing Christian could ever in good conscience claim that abortion can and should be permitted in certain cases, particularly in the case of rape, incest, or the life of the mother. This would in essence be saying that it is okay to willfully murder people under whatever circumstances we deem appropriate.
I recently read in the combox of someone's blog regarding this issue. This was a Catholic blog, I can't really remember which one now, and the author was discussing what the Catholic Church teaches regarding abortion. Quite a few people chimed in, but one person's comment was particularly disturbing. She was a Catholic around the age of 65 or so. She is a cradle-Catholic, educated her entire life in Catholic institutions. She was college-educated by the Jesuits in the 1960s and was clearly outraged to discover that the Church had changed Her teaching regarding abortion. You see, she had been taught, as did all of her peers, that abortion was perfectly acceptable in three cases--rape, incest, and the life of the mother. She absolutely could not believe that, suddenly, the Church changed her position. I am not certain that the author ever corrected her there. So I will clarify her. The Catholic Church has never taught, nor ever will teach, that abortion, the willful murder of an innocent child, is morally acceptable in any case. It can not teach this because our Lord did not teach this to be so. Any Catholic who believes otherwise will suffer under pain of mortal sin. It would be best to educate yourself and get to confession.
I believe that the devil is at work over time in this country and particularly with Catholics. The Catholic Church is the One True Church left to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing that she teaches within the Magisterium is false. Nothing. It cannot be. If it were, then Our Lord would be a liar. And He cannot be. But the devil can. The devil is having his hey-day with the general population at large, including many priests, bishops, cardinals, nuns, and Popes. Not one of us is immune. Not one. The only thing we can trust or depend on is the One True Church, Our Lord, and Our Blessed Mother.
I applaud Mr. Akin. He may have missed biology class when the professor was talking about how the female reproductive system works, but at least he has back-bone. He is right. Rape is not as clear cut as people would like you to believe. Some rapes are not "legitimate." Induced abortion is always morally reprehensible. There is never an excuse to murder an innocent child, particularly in the case where its execution is for a crime committed by its father.
On this Feast Day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, let us ask her to end this scourge of humanity. Because of Her place as Queen of Heaven and Earth, Our Blessed Mother can end this today, if we devote ourselves to Her Heart and ask her to take their unheard cries and buckets of shed blood and sorrowfully place them at the feet of Our Lord. Otherwise, the United States is soon merit Our Lord's Justice.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Holy Innocents, pray for us!
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!
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