A comment on Todd Aiken’s comments
I know it's yesterday's news, and I also usually don't bring up politics on this blog, but I am also a woman, and I think that Todd Aiken's comments, and the anti-abortion laws that have been creeping into legislation all over our country in the past couple of years are something we need to discuss.
The problem with someone like Todd Aiken getting up and making such offensive comments - namely that someone can distinguish between "legitimate rape" and, apparently, any other kinds of rape and making the completely false statement that women's' bodies will prevent the woman from getting pregnant. The problem with such inflammatory comments is that someone who is still pretty conservative on this issue can get up and say "That's ridiculous, I fully support abortion rights in cases of rape." And they sound reasonable. Except what they're also saying is that they don't support abortion in any cases OTHER than rape. But because they don't sound as crazy as Todd Aiken, their statement seems like a much more understandable sentiment, and pretty soon, this becomes a much more popular view.
And this is a slippery slope. Even if you think abortion shouldn't be allowed unless the pregnancy is a result of rape - how do you plan to have the woman prove that? Then we will have a society where women will be forced to prove that a crime was committed, when we all know how difficult that has been to prove in many cases for the criminal-prosecution side of things.
We cannot allow the small infringements on women's' rights to pass without comment - such as a the mandated ultrasounds in states like Texas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina - or they will just set the stage for bigger infringements to come.
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August 22nd, 2012 - 22:47
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been increasingly disturbed by the encroach of social conservatism into areas where I think it really just doesn’t belong – women’s rights, marriage, etc. Kevin Yoder is running unopposed in my district. I’m so tired of having no representation of my interests and feeling nervous that we’re just backsliding and so many people are just…welcoming this. They think it’s progress. It gets discouraging to think about it too much.
It’s hard for me to understand how tea party people oppose government involvement in almost everything – except where women and homosexuals are concerned. To me it seems like those issues are where it least belongs.
I’m sure it will accomplish nothing in Kansas, but you motivated me to at least contact my congressman. I borrowed a little from your last sentence about opening the door for still greater infringements. Thanks for the inspiration.
Also, hang in there until the 17th!