LA Times Grating "Take" on Todd Akin

No respect for female rape victims So begins the first a comprehensive list of "Worst insults to women in 2012 " against women in the last year.   Not only do victims of rape have to suffer through a vile and violent crime, they also have to deal with the burden of proof. They have to prove they weren't "asking for it" or that they didn't misread a situation. This reminder is crucial. Rape is a terrible crime, and too often the victim endured more trauma and tragedy from the very law enforcement authorities who must help her (or him) and stop the perpetrator. That's on top of emotional and physical repercussions, which include the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases. And when the victim is a woman, there's also the chance she may have gotten pregnant and have to decide whether she's comfortable with keeping a baby that would share DNA with her attacker. Because of the fraught implications forced upon a woman, I have always believed that she must have the option to use emergency contraception. To add an additional layer of insult to injury, Rep. Tod Akin (R-Mo.) argued against a woman's right to have an abortion, even in the case of rape. In an interview conducted in August, he said, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." He did not explicitly state an opposition to abortion in the case of rape. In the interview, he claimed that "optimizing" life was the basis for his rationale. Still, this subject is just too emotional and controversial for anyone to outline or limit specific choices in the aftermath of so horrendous a crime.

The media onslaught which followed Akin's "legitimate rape" commented suggested immoral interpretations, such as Akin's latent misogyny, for example, or a troglodyte world view. While I do not agree with the notion of "abortion only in the case of the life of the mother", the following calumhy against the US Senate candidate was uncalled for.

The senator was not reelected.

This misstatement is one of many which belongs to the LA Times. Akin was not running for reelection as a senator, in the first place. The paper did not get its facts straight, then proceeded to malign the character of a Congressman who hasa view on "right to life" which does not necessarily imply "no rights for women."

The heading "no respect for rape victims" was patently false.