When Did Hating Women Become a Republican Platform?

From one of MY favorite blogs, Margaret & Helen when did hating women become a Republican Platform?

Margaret, I think my head is about to explode. Richard Mourdock, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Indiana, said that “even when life begins with that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.” Just when you think the bar for stupid has been set at a new low, some Neanderthal running for office lowers it again. As if God condones rape as an acceptable means of procreation. Mr. Mourdock’s mother must be so proud.

How many more examples do you think American women need before they realize that the current Republican Party would prefer that the Nineteenth Amendment had never been enacted? Let me count the ways…

Mr. Mourdock doesn’t believe a woman who is raped should be given the respect to make her own healthcare decisions in her process of healing, but he does think that there should be an exception if her life is in danger. Unfortunately, Mr. Mourdock hasn’t met Mr. Walsh.

Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois thinks that there should never be an “exception” rule regarding abortions for women due to health concerns because he thinks women’s lives are never in danger due to a pregnancy. Walsh said that the life of a mother is never in danger because with “advances in medicine and technology, you can’t find one instance” in which an abortion would be necessary to save a mother’s life.

Of course, God’s will to bring life forth is at odds with the magical powers of my vagina according to Rep. Todd Akin, who claims that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant. “From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said of pregnancy caused by rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

It hard to believe that Akin, Mourdock and Walsh don’t have this title, but to be considered one of the “most staunchly conservative Republicans” you actually have to take stupid to a disgustingly low level like Rep. Steve King did when he told an Iowa reporter he’s never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest. Here’s the quote: “Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way and I’d be open to discussion about that subject matter.”

Tom Smith, the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania believes there is never a reason to justify an abortion. When asked how he would argue to keep the baby if a daughter or granddaughter were to become pregnant as a result of rape, Smith said that his daughter went through “something similar” to rape: “Having a baby out of wedlock.”

And then there is Rep. Roger Rivard of Wisconsin who declared that sexual assault is a crime that is often misunderstood. He said that his father had warned him that “some girls rape easy.” He explained that meant they’d verbally consent to sex, then later accuse the man of rape. Not that it matters, but I have no idea if he believes easy rape causes a pregnancy.  I bet, however, that he has equally appalling views about a woman’s right to decide what she will do after the easy rape.

It might be interesting for some of you to know that while the economy was burning, 200 Republicans in Congress, including Paul Ryan, spent considerable time on a bill that would have changed the exception language about rape to be redefined as an exception for only “forcible rape”.

I am sitting her stunned at what I have just typed. As a woman I can think of no other circumstance more hateful, more humiliating, more destructive to a woman than the act of rape… forcible rape, legitimate rape, statutory rape, easy rape or just regular old rape. How have these men risen to the level of public support to represent us in our nation’s capital?  And Paul Ryan is being considered for Vice President?  Good God in heaven please deliver me from this madness.

The other night, I was watching the news and that horrible Bay Buchanan came on. She was dismissive of a poll that suggested the issue of abortion was more important than the economy to  women. It was just impossible to Bay – a woman herself as far as I can tell – that women could possibly think that comments like those above could be more important than what those same politicians have to say about creating jobs and improving the economy. I’ve always thought Bay had a little bitch in her, something I admire in myself. But I never figured her for stupid. You don’t have to be a genius to realize that a woman’s ability to control her economic future is absolutely influenced by her ability to control her pregnancies.

Besides being stupid, Bay shares something else in common with those jackasses listed above. They are all members of the Republican Party with a platform that calls for making abortion illegal without exception.

But seriously.  If these men – I’ll go ahead and include Bay in that statement just for the sake of arugment – if these men are stupid enough to have an opinion during the election about what should or shouldn’t happen with a woman’s body after a rape, then they are too stupid to hold an elected office.   And if these men have to explain their statements the next day by saying “what I really meant to say was that rape is never a good thing“… well honestly… do I really need to tell you not to vote for that moron?  And if you are a women voting Republican in this election, bless your heart, you clearly have bigger problems than the economy and you really might want to consider investing in some self respect.

Before I sign off, let me add one more quote to the ever-growing list of Republican Rape Philosophers:

Mitt Romney says this of Richard Mourdock, “We disagree on policy regarding exception for rape and incest but I still support him.” Romney went even further and added, “With so much at stake, I hope you will join me in supporting Richard Mourdock for US Senate.”

Women, I hope you will join me in supporting women everywhere.  Vote for the guy who was smart enough to say simply, “Rape is rape.  It’s a crime.”  I mean it. Really.

via When Did Hating Women Become a Republican Platform?.

Related articles

14 comments on “When Did Hating Women Become a Republican Platform?”

  1. From a brave women who knows what rape is…

    Dear GOP,
    I was gang raped at 13 walking 200 feet home from a baby sitting job. It ruined my life. I got no help from anyone, my mother told me not to ever tell anyone because if I did nobody would marry me. Panic attacks ruled my life, any kind of noise would terrify me and anyone tapping me on the sho
    ulder was in danger of a black eye. I still don’t sleep and gave up on my masters because I was afraid to walk to my car in the parking lot. I don’t leave the house without sedatives.

    Had these rapes resulted in pregnancy the results would have been horrific. I wasn’t healthy enough to carry a baby never mind care for one. I would not have been allowed to stay in my home pregnant and I was too frightened to be anywhere else. Giving a baby up would have pushed me closer to suicide than I already was.

    Relationships were hard for me as I could not trust men or relax around them but I did go on to have children (with a man who turned out to be gay, go figure). I worry about my daughter every minute of every day, overprotective is an understatement. If I didn’t know exactly where she was and that she was safe I wouldn’t be able to breath.

    How dare you tell me that a rape baby is a gift from God? What kind of God would intend for this to happen? You are horribly twisted excuses for human beings. A vote for the GOP is a vote for for hatred, prejudice, injustice, terror and war. I doubt that there are any Gods on board with this and if there are they are not for me or any human being with a heart.

    Anonymous contributor

    Reply

    • Dianne I am sorry about what happened to you but I disagree with your article. You provide a few examples of idiots saying something and turn this political by announcing this is a “republican” thing. The evidence you provided does not match many of the articles you linked. For example “forcible rape” section was not about changing the definition of rape at all. It is about an abortion bill which bans federal funding except under “forcible rape”. While the language might not be clear it is not redefining rape nor stating that something like having sex with someone who is unconscious is not “forcible rape”. Also as said in the very article you linked the context of misunderstanding sexual assault and girls raping easy is supplied though you did not mention this, only the quote in question. I understand this means you may not believe he meant it that way but others deserve to hear that he stated that is how he meant it and decide by themselves. I am disappointed that you chose to take the path of misrepresenting your examples instead of making your arguments with the actual context.

      Reply

  2. Sadly, misogyny is so endemic, that even many (way too many) women agree with such moronic, patriarchal drivel. It’s like Stockholm syndrome for sexism. Here’s hoping there’s more of us than them.

    Reply

  8. Some of us Republican women, while caring deeply for other women, are legitimately concerned for the life of the innocent child involved. I’m a physician and an abuse survivor, and try to be a thoughtful and compassionate conservative. How do we open a legitimate dialogue around these issues?

    Reply

    • Start with Republican legislators who seem clueless when it comes to women’s health or even biology. Attacking planned parenthood and defending the rights of embryos over women are not conducive to legitimate dialogue. Recognizing that banning abortion does not stop abortion, only safe abortion. Depriving women of birth control is counterproductive to lowering abortion rates as well as blocking sex ed in schools. Reproductive health and family planning is necessary for the family as well as the woman.

      Reply

      • Diane, biology states that a cell is the smallest unit of life and humans have 23 sets of chromosomes which makes the unborn baby a human life. Pro-lifers are not the ones clueless about biology. The embryo is just in a stage of life, much like puberty and old age. A human’s worth shouldn’t be determined by their stage of development or their dependence on other people. That is a dangerous precedent. There is no defense for what those idiots said in the article about rape but defending the lives of unborn humans does not mean that we don’t care about women. If we are choosing embryos over women, it’s only because the embryos are the ones who are dying. It’s small minded (or dishonest) to portray pro-lifers as hating women or wanting to hurt them as if their belief that the unborn are living human beings worthy of protection is not legitimate. We just made that up to control women, huh? Let’s face it, if you believed that someone was being killed, wouldn’t you try to stop it. Protecting human life AND protecting women are both important and should be seen for the good, noble causes they are instead of vilifying one side to make us enemies.

      • Yes, I daresay if your daughter faced the choice of dying or having an abortion, you would think differently. It’s always different when it’s personal isn’t it? Just ask one of many ‘Pro-life’ Republican politicians who secretly arranged abortions for their mistresses…or believe in the death penalty. What about contraceptives? Wouldn’t that lower the abortion rate? Or how about sex ed in schools? If the ‘baby’ is so important, why do Republican policies care not for it’s welfare AFTER it is born? Cutting healthcare services (including neo-natal care), food stamps for poor families with children, school lunch programs…should I continue? I’m not buying your pro-life bullshit.

Leave a comment