Richard Mourdock is just the latest Republican candidate saying extreme things about rape
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During last night’s Indiana Senate debate, Republican candidate Richard Mourdock went too far when he said, “…even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
As horrible as Mourdock’s comment is, that’s just the latest: he joins a long list of Republicans (including Paul Ryan and Todd Akin) who believe that rape survivors should not have access to safe and legal abortion. And they are the tip of the iceberg: the Republican Party’s own platform calls for banning abortion in ALL cases, including rape, incest or life of the mother by supporting a Human Life Amendment.
Whether it’s Idaho State Senator Chuck Winder saying, "I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask…was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape,” Rep. Todd Akin discussing “legitimate rape”:
North Dakota Senate Candidate Rick Berg saying he wants to criminalize abortion, even for rape victims:
or Rep. Joe Walsh saying the “health of the mother has become a tool for abortions anytime under any reason,” out-of-touch comments like these are, sadly, not unusual.
The Republican Party platform includes a “Human Life Amendment” that would give full constitutional rights to a fertilized egg, thereby outlawing forms of birth control and banning safe and legal abortion with no exceptions. So, as bad as the things that Mourdock, Akin, and Walsh may say — can you imagine the policies they would enact in partnership with a Romney/Ryan administration?
Just this week, Mitt Romney cut an ad endorsing Mourdock, his first television ad for any U.S. Senate candidate this year. Romney has even said, “We gotta get this guy elected in the US Senate!" But since Mourdock’s comments were made, the most the Romney campaign has done is issue a tepid statement “disagreeing” with Mourdock’s remarks. If that’s the type of leadership Romney exercises over his own party, we shudder to think what would happen if he were elected president with the agenda of the party he now leads.
