Legitimate Rape

I’m not sure whether Todd Aiken (Rep. Missouri) is ignorant or just not good at using the English language. “From what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV. “If it’s a legitimate rape,” he continued, “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” And then he incredibly added, “But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” This original utterance would support ignorance, if not full-blown lunacy. Who are these “doctors” who tell Aiken that pregnancies from rape are “really rare”? What the hell does “legitimate rape” mean? And what does “shut that whole thing down” refer to? Conception? That’s what doctors told him? And “there should be some punishment” for the “[legitimate] rapist” but not “the child”? What about the woman, the missing person (sometimes also a child) in Aiken’s scenario? Aiken would punish her by requiring her to bring the product of her rape to term.

The following day, after the political and cultural worlds crashed down upon his head, Aiken said, “In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview [can remarks in an interview be “off-the cuff”?] and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.” It’s good that he does, after all have “deep empathy” for “the thousands of women who are raped” – though not enough to allow them an out from their trauma of having to carry the fetus to term. And what exactly does he mean by that weasel word “misspoke”? Does he mean he wasn’t telling the truth? Or does he mean he shouldn’t have said anything at all? Or does he mean that he was telling the truth but he just didn’t word it very well?

Aiken followed up by opting for the last option, that he isn’t good with the English language: "I said one word in one sentence on one day, and everything changed," he told former pastor, former Arkansas governor, and current talk show host Mike Huckabee. But he didn’t specify what that “one word” or “one sentence” was. There are so many words in his original three-sentence utterance, it’s hard to determine what he’s identified as his sole slip-up. And let’s be clear: It’s not his wording that’s the problem. It’s his ideas. There’s no thesaurus that can save Aiken from the cruel and callous ideas that he espouses. He’s both ignorant and not good at using the English language. And heartless. And he shouldn’t be in any office in the U.S. government. That he already is – and may well be again – does not say anything good about our democracy.