Author\u2019s note:\u00a0 This piece is a good bit longer than most posts will be.\u00a0 But given the topic and central theme of this post, it seems appropriate to devote more time and space to this conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve turned on the news at all in the past week you are likely to have heard MO Congressman Todd Akin\u2019s offensive comments that \u201clegitimate rape\u201d is not likely to result in pregnancy because the woman\u2019s body has \u201cways to try to shut that whole thing down.\u201d\u00a0 With the start of a new week, I\u2019m sure Republicans would like nothing more than to put the whole Akin controversy to bed and turn the page to the national convention they are trying to host (if Isaac will let them).\u00a0 But the issue is not going away.\u00a0 While the comments have been widely condemned by leaders across political parties, including President Obama and Governor Romney, condemnation is not enough.\u00a0 There is more here that needs to be said.\u00a0 What we need is an honest discussion about the reasoning that led to these statements and an acknowledgement that our politically charged rhetoric is preventing us from having necessary conversations on abortion and leading to policies that endanger women.<\/p>\n To begin to unpack this we must first realize that Rep. Akin\u2019s remarks were not thoughtless throw-away words.\u00a0 He meant what he said, and many others share his views.\u00a0 As one of their first acts when they regained the majority, House Republicans, including Rep. Akin, tried to introduce the term \u201cforcible rape\u201d into law, raising legal and moral questions about what exactly \u201cnon-forcible rape\u201d is and whether there are degrees of severity when it comes to rape.\u00a0 Akin was joined in these efforts by Rep. Paul Ryan, the newly minted GOP Vice Presidential candidate.\u00a0 Only a few days after Rep. Akin\u2019s recent remarks, Iowa Rep. Steven King told a reporter<\/a> that he didn\u2019t know of any cases where victims of statutory rape have gotten pregnant.\u00a0 When most people were quickly putting distance between themselves and Rep. Akin, the Family Research Council stated in a release<\/a> that they \u201centhusiastically endorse his candidacy.\u201d\u00a0 And Brian Fischer, host of the radio show Focal Point<\/em> on American Family Radio (one of the largest Christian radio networks in the country), went so far as to say<\/a> that Rep. Akin\u2019s claim that women who are raped cannot get pregnant is \u201cabsolutely right.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot more going on here than a debate over whether rape is really rape.\u00a0 What is really at issue are the gut-wrenching and morally impossible questions that the reality of rape poses to the issue of abortion.\u00a0 When it comes to most of our abortion debates, the focus is often on what the woman could or should have done to keep from getting pregnant.\u00a0 Women are often reduced to a catalog of their mistakes and sins, and compassion for their circumstances is frequently removed from the equation and our legislation.\u00a0 But being the victim of rape is not a sin.\u00a0 Ironically, rape humanizes women in a climate where the majority of our rhetoric around abortion dehumanizes them. \u00a0Everyone, including Congressman Akin, feels extreme compassion for the victims of rape.\u00a0 And so the question naturally arises, is abortion morally justified when the woman is not only not responsible for her pregnancy, but is the victim of an incredibly traumatic and violent assault?\u00a0 It\u2019s a legitimate question and an extremely difficult one.<\/p>\n This is the question Rep. Akin was responding to when he made his harmful comments.\u00a0 It is pretty clear from the rest of his response<\/a> that Rep. Akin does not support abortion in the case of rape. \u00a0Before too many people decry this position as an example of his \u201cextreme anti-abortion views\u201d I would question whether his position is really that different from pacifists who oppose all war, even to prevent genocide.\u00a0 Polling shows that 75% of Americans<\/a> believe abortion is permissible in the case of rape or incest, putting Rep. Akin in the minority view.\u00a0 But expressing a minority position is not inherently extreme or offensive.\u00a0 In fact, I would say that for those who believe that the sanctity of life is absolutely inviolable, holding genuine love and compassion for a victim of rape while believing she should not have an abortion does take moral courage.<\/p>\n But Rep. Akin did not show moral courage.\u00a0 Instead, he chose the wide and easy path of avoiding moral complexity by delegitimizing (literally) the experience of women who become pregnant as a result of rape.\u00a0 Rather than have the hard, honest (potentially politically costly) discussion about his moral convictions, Rep. Akin made up medical facts to dismiss the gut-wrenching decisions thousands of women face each year.\u00a0 The essence of his comments was a fictive assertion that pregnancy as a result of rape is a non-issue, therefore abortion as the result of rape is not a significant concern.\u00a0 Opposing abortion in the case of rape would certainly be easier if this was true, but wanting to avoid a difficult position does not justify harming thousands of women.\u00a0 This is where the abortion wars have led us.\u00a0 We are now in a place where compassion for a woman faced with abortion is completely removed from our discourse and our policies, and is replaced instead by fictional facts and altered reality.<\/p>\n I suspect the reason Rep. Akin responded the way he did is the same reason many of our public debates have become so polarized.\u00a0 Our system, from our media to our politics, thrives off an us vs. them mentality.\u00a0 We need everything to be cast as clearly defined choices.\u00a0 Admitting that there are issues where the moral choice is not easily defined (or at a minimum is not made without a great deal of pain and soul searching) is acknowledging that people of good will can disagree on important issues, even issues of life and death.\u00a0 Running a 30-second political ad saying your opponent has wrestled with a morally complex issue and come to a different conclusion than you is a lot harder than just calling him a baby-killer or anti-woman.\u00a0 And so we find ways to avoid the tough questions.<\/p>\n When it comes to sexual assault and abortion, we\u2019ve already seen the policy implications of this shift in our social conscience.\u00a0 With their \u201cforcible rape\u201d legislation, House Republicans have already tried to limit the circumstances in which victims of rape can seek an abortion.\u00a0 The party platform Republicans are preparing to adopt this week in Tampa currently includes no exceptions for abortion<\/a> in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother.\u00a0 Whether one believes that abortion is permissible in the case of rape or not, do we really want that incredibly personal, exceptionally difficult decision to be legislated by the government?\u00a0 And the ripples reach well beyond abortion.\u00a0 Earlier this year, Senate Republicans moved to block reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act<\/a> because it expanded protections for victims of sexual assault.\u00a0 In 31 states, women who do<\/em> choose to carry their pregnancy to term after being raped have no protections<\/a> to prevent their rapists from turning around and asserting their full parental rights.<\/p>\n The way we talk about rape and abortion matters because it shapes our culture; it determines how we view victims of sexual assault, pregnant women, and single mothers and influences whether the laws we adopt are beneficial or harmful for them.\u00a0 If Rep. Akin is opposed to abortion in the case of rape, then he should be crusading for policies that prevent sexual assault, not making medically inaccurate statements about when and how women can get pregnant.<\/p>\n Our language on abortion matters for our policies.\u00a0 It also matters for people of faith.\u00a0 As Christians, we are never allowed to duck moral complexity or dismiss compassion.\u00a0 Even in the face of unrepentant sinners (whether you put women who seek abortions in this category or not), we are commanded to show love.\u00a0 Jesus models this over and over again from the woman caught in adultery to his prayer for forgiveness from the cross.\u00a0 Defending the sanctity of life in the womb does not give us the right to dehumanize or delegitimize the worth of the person we oppose.<\/p>\n Before I am accused of saying that Republicans and conservatives do not have compassion for women facing unintended pregnancies or victims of rape, that is not what I believe.\u00a0 But the policies we are implementing, and the language we have adopted, do not reflect those values.\u00a0 Framing issues in black and white terms may be the best way to score political points and win elections, but it is not how we build a more just and compassionate society.<\/p>\n Central to the Christian faith is the conviction that the compassion we show is not only because of<\/em> Jesus, but it is literally for<\/em> Jesus.\u00a0 Mitt Romney stated recently that his favorite Scripture is Matthew 25, which is a well loved passage for me as well.\u00a0 In it, Jesus reminds us that whatever we do for \u201cthe least of these\u201d \u2013 from clothing the naked, to feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and visiting the prisoner \u2013 we do for him.\u00a0 We would do well to apply that standard to all the issues we face. \u00a0Whatever we do for the college freshman faced with an unintended pregnancy, we do for him.\u00a0 Whatever we deny the \u201cwelfare queen\u201d with four children, we deny him.\u00a0 Whatever we say about victims of rape, we say about him.<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to stop dehumanizing one another in our rhetoric and in our laws and to start having honest conversations about the painful, messy, complex challenges we face.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rep. Akin did not show moral courage. Instead, he chose the wide and easy path of avoiding moral complexity by delegitimizing (literally) the experience of women who become pregnant as a result of rape. Rather than have the hard, honest (potentially politically costly) discussion about his moral convictions, Rep. Akin made up medical facts to dismiss the gut-wrenching decisions thousands of women face each year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[133,131,135,89,134,132,130],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion","tag-gop-convention","tag-legitimate-rape","tag-paul-ryan","tag-rape","tag-rnc-convention","tag-todd-akin"],"yoast_head":"\n