Let me finish tonight with the crazy story in Missouri.
The candidate in question, Todd Akin, raised his concern that women who charge rape may not have a “legitimate” case.
Well, that is Mr. Akin’s case and the story continues. Why a candidate for major national office would make a case like this tells you much of what you need to know about the thinking behind it.
Why would a person belittle or try to undermine the testimony of a woman charging rape? Why would they do such a thing? Why?
A couple possibilities arise. One is that this person, Todd Akin, doesn’t want to allow an exception for having an abortion. To avoid allowing that exception, he argues that women who are raped cannot get pregnant.
Another possibility here, and I think my women colleagues felt this on hearing that word he used, that he simply doesn’t take the word of women on this most violent question. The second he voiced that word “legitimate,” he was calling into question the basic veracity of women on the stand in a courtroom. Why would he do such a thing? That is the question he needs to answer and the voters of Missouri are going to keep asking it as long as he stands out there as a candidate.
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