LOL. I know this shouldn't be funny, but the notion that the body just knows when it's been "legitimately" raped and shuts down pregnancy is so categorically absurd that I can't help it. Incredible.

Their obsession with undifferentiated cells is creepy though. My word.

It was a very stupid thing to say, AWB. But the word "legitimate" as used here is just a synonym for "genuine."

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/legitimate?s=t

(Definition 6)

Certainly, it was a poor choice of words (given the first definitions) as well as a stupid thing to say.

There was no adjective necessary. He wasn't comparing it to "fake" rape.

Of course he was, implicitly. If you really think he was saying some rape is OK, dear help you.

I don't think he was saying that, but I do think he's trying to set up an argument that if a woman gets pregnant, then it wasn't really rape.

Perhaps, perhaps not. Even if he was, that would indeed imply that he was using the word to mean "genuine" -- which anybody could use it to mean.

@Eden - Not saying it's true (God knows, rape is rape and I don't think the female body has these so called defenses plus the statistics don't bear out his claims), but there is much to be said for the power of the mind over the body. If you think you are sick, your body can produce more white blood cells even though no disease jhas been deteceted, os it isn't that far fetched to think that the human mind could force the body to alter it's natural cycle and prevent a pregnancy by triggering a spontaneous expulsion of any ova waiting to be fertilized.

But again, I don't believe that is the case. Just pointing out that it logically *could* be true.

I don't even care if he misspoke. He's a pathetic waste of space in my book. No more explanation needed.

Does it even bother anyone that the GOP has abandoned the "rape, incest, save life of mother" exceptions that were supposed to prove the no-abortions rule?

Heh I figured he was trying to limit what the definition of rape really was. As a woman I have heard comments like "It wasn't rape she was asking for it." Or it's ok if the women is married to the guy, or was to drunk to say no. Wasn't surprised to hear legitimate rape in that kind of spiel.

Oh and it's all rape to me personally.

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/todd-akin-legitimate-rape.php

"His claim about 'legitimate' types of rape is not completely foreign to the current Republican Congress, however. In 2011, the House GOP was forced to drop language from a bill that would have limited federal help to pay for an abortion to only victims of 'forcible rape.' Akin was a co-sponsor on the bill.

"Nor is this Akin’s first time suggesting some types of rape are more worthy of protections than others. As a state legislator, Akin voted in 1991 for an anti-marital-rape law, but only after questioning whether it might be misused 'in a real messy divorce as a tool and a legal weapon to beat up on the husband,' according to a May 1 article that year in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch."

And it's noooo, naaaay, never, no nay never, no more wiiill I plaaaay the wild rover, no, neveeeeer, no more!

I doubt very many Republicans are dropping their support for life-of-the-mother exceptions. As for rape and incest, they were kind of inconsistencies. If it's murder, it's murder, so it's no surprise to see opposition to those exceptions increasing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQb9rf7QSLg

Of course it's not surprising, seeing as how the Republican Party has abandoned all semblance of intellectual conservatism in favor of right-wing populism.

http://www.prolifephysicians.org/rarecases.htm

^ Life-of-the-mother exception is the next to go.

The guy has voted multiple times to narrow the definition of rape. The historic attack on women continues.

i don't think they're trying to win the election, they're trying to push the conversation further to their side.

Only women could be this upset by discussion of rape.

All of us have estrogen in us somewhere. Anatomy class says so, must be true. Evidently some people haven't found their feminine side.

Women should be allowed to be upset. When men get raped as often as women then you can be upset and decide laws about it @ Al

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/aug/19/us-romney-akin/

"Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is distancing himself from a Missouri congressman who says a woman's body 'has ways' to prevent pregnancy after rape.

"Romney's campaign on Sunday said Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, disagree with Akin's comments. Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul says Romney's administration would not oppose abortion in cases of rape."

Ooh, looks like Akin's gone radioactive.

Al Swearengen: The idea that only women would or should be concerned with rape is incomprehensibly stupid.

Oh come on, none of you have heard of legitimate rape? Its all about protocol.

Article XII, Section 5.1 of the Missouri State Penal Code
Filing of Rape Charges

"All persons, who upon asserting a rape has been committed, must present the witnessing officer with an autographed photograph of the rapist(s) as well as the Non-Consent to Sexual Actions form, which is to have been signed by both the consenting and non-consenting parties and duly notarized. After said documentation is submitted and authenticated, investigation into the rape may begin, as outlined in Section 5.2"

As a fan of sarcasm, i heartily approve goldfinger's heartless parody...

Also the first thing i see when i log into twitter: 'Want to fight back against Todd Akin’s #LegitimateRape comments? Then donate to his opponent Claire McCaskil https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8/content_item/mccaskill-donate '

Yeah, I can't speak to what the Congressmen actually meant, but there has been a move to try and frame forcible rape as different from date rape or rape of a person who is drunk or otherwise intoxicated or coerced rape, etc.

This is pretty horrid.

If you're a republican and want to oppose this, i suggest you run against him!

Only in the US:p

Jesus ora has become ridiculous. Anyway, to those who say voting in this election doesnt matter, youre saying this doesnt matter.

How can Romney "distance" himself from Akin when his running mate was the co-sponser of his bill to limit the reproductive rights of women?