All Abortions Are Necessary

For those of us who believe in the fundamental right to privacy Todd Akin, Paul Ryan, and Bob McDonnell have each provided a strong lesson in how to properly defend issues relating to reproductive health. From now we need to stop distinguishing between different groups of people who “deserve” certain medical procedures. There is no common ground on which proponents of access to contraception and abortion services can meet and agree with the other side. “Safe, legal, and rare” as a political strategy has proven to be ineffective in stopping the zealots. Appeasement is over, and it is time to go on the offensive in assuring this essential aspect of individual liberty.

Akin’s asinine idea concerning the fecundity of rape victims is just the latest example of the decades long Republican resistance to allowing this particular group of women access to abortion services. The “no exceptions” idea has been on the national Republican platform since 1976. The desire to force women into giving birth was never analyzed by conservatives. Their position has always been about control, and their zealotry has only metastasized into even more disgusting versions of extremism, including the justification and facilitation of outright terrorism.

Democrats on the other hand decided, perhaps in the hopes of stemming the rising levels of violence from the other side, to equivocate. However by agreeing to sacrifice the singular legal and moral position from which the right to an abortion was established (the right to privacy for all), we in effect divided those who seek abortions into separate and unequal camps. On one side there were women who deserved to exercise the right to choose, and then there were the “others” whose reasons for terminating a pregnancy were not seen as valuable or morally defensible for some untold reason (i.e. they are poor or happen to engage in a lifestyle which we disapproved of).

By placating to the prejudices and adopting the insane line of thinking as the other side we allowed the worst elements of the festering extremism within the right wing to become an acceptable political position in the 21st century. By refusing to properly defend the morality inherent in preserving the right to choose, we enabled the “moderate” position to continually shift rightward. As a result, access to abortion is becoming increasingly rare in many parts of this country, to the point that the unsafe back-alley procedures of the past are now once again becoming the only options for many women suffering from an unwanted pregnancy.

This line of thinking ends now. The right to decide to undergo an abortion needs to be reaffirmed by the Democratic party with no reservations, with no exceptions, and with no further need to justify our position. Access to abortion is part of a basic human right to proper healthcare, and it is further guaranteed by the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy. There is no ambiguity in this stance, and there is no need to expound or debate the nuances within this assertion. Furthermore a pregnant rape victim might be more sympathetic for some people who would otherwise oppose abortion, but they should be treated the same under the law as a person who became pregnant as a result of consensual sex. All that matters is whether or not individual who is pregnant consents to the procedure to end their pregnancy.

This position is not only easier to defend constitutionally in the judicial system, it is also a sounder electoral strategy for progressives. While the other side features raving psychopaths like Randall Terry, buffoons like Todd Akin, and terrorists like Eric Robert Rudolph, the people defending the right to abortion include well reasoned individuals who tend to justify their opinions using actual science, basic forms of empathy, and common sense. As a society we should finally admit that raising a child is not an absolutely wonderful “blessing” for everyone who becomes pregnant. We should encourage adoption, contraception, and “planning”, but for the sake of a child’s life and proper development we should also refuse to stigmatize those who choose not undertake the commitment necessary to raise a child.

Allies of the abortion rights movement need to seize this opportunity provided to us by the lunatics trying to justify forced birth in a society that celebrates our Bill of Rights. Equivocation was a worthless endeavor, as it allowed the division and weakening of the popular consensus and legal basis necessary to support our position. This year supporters of this right need to be present themselves as morally righteous and politically certain in campaigning for an expansion of abortion services across the country. At this point we really have nothing left to lose, and the weakness within the other side is becoming more obvious everyday. There is a war on women, and it is time to declare that we will accept nothing less than a total victory over those who wish to keep 51% of this country as 2nd class citizens.

Ron Paul Fans (Like Most Republicans) Have No Business Whining About Todd Akin

By now you have probably become aware of Missouri Senate Candidate and current congressman Todd Akin and his remarks detailing how women cannot become pregnant as a result of a “legitimate” rape (meaning that a pregnancy is actually an indicator that a woman must have enjoyed or consented to the act). Akin has since been roundly condemned by pretty much everyone, including conservatives (excluding hacks like Dana Loesch). There have even been calls by Republicans for him to withdraw from the race, although as of right now it seems that he intends on staying in the race.

Just to remind the pseudo-libertarian Ron Paul followers out there, here is your hero of “individual liberty” basically saying the same thing back in February:

And just to drive home the point, the kindly old doctor douchebag himself also signed onto that idiotic personhood amendment, which reads:

I believe that in order to properly protect the right to life of the vulnerable among us, every human being at every stage of development must be recognized as a person possessing the right to life in federal and state laws without exception and without compromise. I recognize that in cases where a mother’s life is at risk, every effort should be made to save the baby’s life as well; leaving the death of an innocent child as an unintended tragedy rather than an intentional killing.

Ron Paul, like his jackass scion currently serving as the junior Senator from Kentucky, has always had a serious problem with extending his vision of unlimited personal freedom to include a woman’s right to control her own reproductive system.

The current strain of “libertarianism” within the Republican party has always been little more than a facade employed during times when a Democratic President is in charge to distract the narrative-hungry members of the Washington media from the profligate spending and fascist foreign policies of the GOP when they are in power. The same transparently fraudulent argument is repeated because we as a country need for “two sides” to exists to every movement, and calling out one side of an argument as being demonstrably full of shit or evil is considered déclassé. The conservative minds of this country continue to believe (as they always have) that the only “people” who should be free from government control are corporate business interests and religious authority figures, and neither group thinks to fondly of a woman having unregulated control of their vagina.

Todd Akin, Ron Paul, and Paul Ryan have all been champions within the Congress for restricting abortion even in cases of rape and incest, an indefensible and maliciously cruel policy position for anyone to take, much less someone with the power to actually affect legislation. Akin and Ryan also worked during this congressional term to redefine rape (with reference to the limited allowable medicaid reimbursements for abortions) by qualifying the act with the term “forcible”. This means that other forms of non-consensual sex would not be eligible for federally-funded abortion services. The belief that “fake rape” is being frequently used as a excuse to exploit a loophole for a procedure that these men think should never be allowed is widespread amongst the Republican party, even amongst the stalwart defenders of “economic liberty”.

It is time to stop giving these men the benefit of the doubt concerning their records and their own words. The people who are promoting this line of thinking are hypocrites, misogynists, and sadists for wishing anyone to undergo a forced birth. Calling these men “libertarians” or defenders of “liberty” is beyond ironic, it is disgusting.

GOP Candidate Believes That Pregnancy Is Impossible After A “Legitimate” Rape, Because He Is An Asshole

Are we supposed to be surprised by this sort of insanity anymore?

As Think Progress notes, this is par for the course with Akin who is now actually leading in the polls against the Democratic incumbent, Claire McCaskill, for the Senate Seat in Missouri. Akin not only opposes all abortions, including those that happen as a result of rape and incest, but he is also wants to ban emergency contraception and is very concerned that marital rape laws could provide women “a legal weapon to beat up on the husband”. The good people at TP also included this nice little statistic that Mr. Akin has apparently ignored during his time as a legislator:

“The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.”

The crusade against women having control over their sexuality in the last few years has reached a point of such abject foolishness that Akin’s reasoning, as devoid of actual facts (or morality) as it is, is at least consistent with the logic necessary to promote such abhorrent nonsense as actual policy. For opponents of people like Akin we must be clear about what these zealots are actually supporting: the absolute legal control of the over the sexual health and decision making of all women based on simple misogyny.

They believe that women must suffer the consequences of “deciding to have sex”. It does not matter to these policy makers about weather those consequences take the form of unwanted pregnancies (which can cause economically instability, domestic discord, or death), or continue the public health crises regarding STI’s. When faced with the basic fact that many sexual encounters are performed without the appropriate forms of consent, they choose to remain fastidiously aligned with their ideologically based need to control women instead of realizing that their original belief was based on an flawed and awful premise. Furthermore, it is also safe to say that the idea that some women “invite” rape is also a pretty widespread belief amongst many of the finer gentlemen within the Republican Party.

The American Taliban exists, and they are running for office.