Has Paul Ryan Flip Flopped on Abortion for Rape Victims? Romney Camp says he has!

"Governor Romney and Congressman (Paul) Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape," Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said.

Wonder what Paul Ryan is thinking about that statement?

While the Romney camp tries to distance themselves from Rep Akin's comments, it is made much harder with Paul Ryan on the ticket who is part of the same far right group on abortion as Akin:

Although best known for his budget work, Ryan is firmly within the right wing of his party on abortion. The Obama campaign recently released a TV ad highlighting Ryan’s support for banning abortions without exceptions for rape and incest and, in certain cases, even the health of the mother. 

Since I have heard Ryan say the same thing, it comes as no shock that when Akin who has been in the House since 2000 announced he was running for Senate, Ryan sends out comments and then had to walk them back to show he was not endorsing Akin.  Ryan was a joint sponsor on a bill with Akin that attempted to define rape that was pulled out of the bill because of public outcry.

Since the Romney camp is including Paul Ryan in their statement that they believe abortion is okay in rape cases does Ryan also believe that statement?  Would he be standing with Akin now if he wasn't Romney's running mate?  Is he now doing a flip flop that abortion is okay for rape victims when he was firmly against it in the past?  It looks to many of us like Ryan is flip flopping on his core beliefs.  That makes it appear he will flip flop on anything he believes when Romney tells him what to think and say.

I would have more respect for Ryan if he stood up and said I don't believe in abortion under any circumstance.  Ryan supported a ban on abortions "even in cases of rape or incest.,,"  Personally I oppose Ryan's narrow view on abortion, but in the past I have respected him for refusing to waiver.  Now thanks to being Romney's VP he is throwing his core beliefs under the bus by agreeing with Romney it is okay for rape victims to get abortions.

Agree with this article that Akin's comments are very scary and you learn today that Akin's wife is even more far right on abortion from a First Read email from NBC.  What is wrong with these people?  Keep hearing from people I know in MO that Akin's wife will never let him drop out of the race (has until 5 o'clock tomorrow to drop out for free) but will double down now on his stance on abortion.  There is no walking this one back by Romney with Ryan as his VP.  The comments on Twitter last night defending Akin left me speechless but noticed most came from men which I find telling.

Let this become the face of the Republican Party since Ryan comes from this far right camp on abortion rights including making invitro fertilization against the law with his support of the Personhood bill which totally rolls back abortion but that even failed in Mississippi.  That is fact not spin so for Ryan to try and walk all of this back to be the VP for Romney says all you need to know about Mr. Ryan and his so-called core values -- he will sell out to be the VP.


Which is it Mr. Ryan -- you walk as wimp in lockstep with everything Romney says or you stand up and be a man saying you don't support abortion for rape but also don't agree with the comments of Akin yesterday? That would have been the honest way to handle the situation with disavowing those particular comments yesterday by Akin while holding firm to your beliefs.

Since Ryan didn't do that, you can hand him a pair of flip flops to go with Romney's -- how about a matching pair?

GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin's rape comment is very, very scary
By Rose Gordon Sala -
Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:26 AM EDT
The Missouri Republican congressman Todd Akin, who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill for her Senate seat, aired some of his medically, not to mention ethically, questionable and shocking beliefs on women, rape, and pregnancy over the weekend. 

(See video in post below this one) 

Asked whether or not abortion should be legal in cases of rape during a TV interview with St. Louis Fox affiliate KTVI, the Congressman said well, that shouldn't really be of importance because a) it's rare; b) apparently sometimes rape is legitimate and sometimes not; and c) women have the power to block unwanted pregnancies (by the power of their minds? super duper hormones?). 

Here's how the interview went, so you can draw your own interpretation of this exchange.

Interviewer: What about in the case of rape. Should it be legal or not? 

Rep. Todd Akin: Well people always want to try and make that one of those things well, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question.
It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, uh, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. 

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.

The immediate reaction was certainly shock, as his competitor Sen. McCaskill summed up in a tweet: 

Claire McCaskill@clairecmcAs a woman & former prosecutor who handled 100s of rape cases,I'm stunned by Rep Akin's comments about victims this AM bit.ly/NahiHz19 Aug 2012

(snip)

Of course Rep. Akin has walked back his comments, saying he "misspoke" as politicians on both sides of the aisle are known to do after realizing people are mad at them. And then he tried to pivot back to safer waters with what else but jobs and the economy. "We’ve had 42 straight months of unacceptably high unemployment, trillion dollar deficits...That is my primary focus in this campaign," read his statement. 

The Mitt Romney campaign condemned the remark as well.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Republicans have pushed such a rumor about pregnancy and rape (BuzzFeed: The 6 Craziest Things People Have Said about Pregnancy and Rape, April 2012), or tried to distiguish among "legitimate" and non-legitimate rape (Mother Jones: The House GOP's Plan to Redefine Rape, January 2011). 

War on Women? Yeah, it's probably just made up. 

Retiring Republican Sen. Olympia Snow is right. The GOP should halt its focus on social issues and get back to basics. Because when they open their mouths on such topics, it's well, scary, and in this case, patently false.  

Excerpt:  Read More at Lean Forward 

Paul Ryan's Anti-Abortion Bill Co-sponsor GOP Senate Candidate Akin (MO): Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Won’t Become Pregnant

Turns out it is not only Akin but the new Romney Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan who are part of this hard right view on abortion:

Last year, Akin joined with GOP vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as two of the original co-sponsors of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill which, among other things, introduced the country to the bizarre term “forcible rape.”

If not for the public outcry, the term "forcible rape" language would have stayed in the bill:

Although a version of this bill passed the GOP-controlled House, the “forcible rape” language was eventually removed due to widespread public outcry. Paul Ryan, however, believes that the “forcible rape” language does not actually go far enough to force women to carry their rapist’s baby. Ryan believes that abortion should be illegal in all cases except for “cases in which a doctor deems an abortion necessary to save the mother’s life.” So rape survivors are out of luck.

Someone must have gotten to Akin from the Senate Republicans or more likely the Romney campaign as he has now released a statement that he misspoke.  Yeah right and there are pigs flying by my window.  The cat is out of the bag as this is not the first time he has made comments about rape as he was part of a group including Paul Ryan in the House of Representatives last year supporting a bill changing the definition of rape to include only “forcible rape.”

More from Michelle Goldberg who explains who Akin and Ryan would likely target:

Under H.R. 3, only victims of “forcible rape” would qualify for federally funded abortions. Victims of statutory rape—say, a 13-year-old girl impregnated by a 30-year-old man—would be on their own. So would victims of incest if they’re over 18. And while “forcible rape” isn’t defined in the criminal code, the addition of the adjective seems certain to exclude acts of rape that don’t involve overt violence—say, cases where a woman is drugged or has a limited mental capacity. “It’s basically putting more restrictions on what was defined historically as rape,” says Keenan.

Akin is against the morning after pill given to rape victims as he sees it as a form of abortion.  In his mind if they won't become pregnant from a rape, how does he call the morning after pill a form of abortion?

Do people like Akin and Ryan want women who become pregnant from rape and incest to have to go back to the back alley abortions which were done away with when the SCOTUS ruled on Roe v Wade?  More importantly do the Republican men who think like this neanderthal want women to leave the Republican Party in droves because a lot of women including Republican women find his comments reprehensible.  If he had any integrity, he would withdraw from the race.  So this is what the candidates from the Koch Brothers/Romney Tea Party Republican Party look like?  They truly have started a war on women!

Women in MO better think twice about voting for Akin for the US Senate or for the Romney/Ryan ticket since Paul Ryan shares Akin's views.  If he the best the GOP has to offer in the Missouri Senate race then Republicans deserve to lose big for choosing a far right winger to run for Senate who has offended women of America with his remarks.   No amount of saying he misspoke is going to change most women's minds because his original comments are so outrageous.

GOP Senate Candidate: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Won’t Become Pregnant

By Zack Beauchamp posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Aug 19, 2012 at 5:40 pm 

Senate Candidate and Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) told a local television station on Sunday that “legitimate rape” rarely produces pregnancy because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin cited conversations with unnamed doctors for the bizarre claim. 

Watch it: 

Akin in coordination with Paul Ryan sponsored legislation that would redefine rape in federal law to limit funding for abortion providers and has a long track record of uninformed and extreme views about women’s health. He has a consistently radical anti-choice voting record in the House, wants to ban the morning after pill, and has expressed concern that criminalizing marital rape gives women “a legal weapon to beat up on the husband” during a divorce.

Akin’s crusade against women’s access to medical services fits with his broader worldview, which is heavily influenced by a particularly virulent group of fundamentalist thinkers described as “Christian supremacists” by the Anti-Defamation League.  

The NY Times shows the same video in their article which has an update from Senator McCaskill:

August 19, 2012, 5:53 pm
Candidate’s Comments on Rape Draw Criticism
By REBECCA BERG 

Comments by Representative Todd Akin, a Republican running to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, are drawing condemnation after he asserted that victims of “a legitimate rape” have biological mechanisms to prevent pregnancy. 

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Mr. Akin told KTVI-TV of St. Louis in an interview that was broadcast on Sunday. 

The comments drew a sharp rebuke on Sunday from Senator McCaskill, who is in a tough fight against the Republican candidate. 

“It is beyond comprehension that someone can be so ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma brought on by rape,” the senator said in a statement. “The ideas that Todd Akin has expressed about the serious crime of rape and the impact on its victims are offensive.” 

Mr. Akin later released a statement saying he “misspoke.” 

(snip)

Mr. Akin has been a staunch opponent of abortion as a lawmaker and on the campaign trail; he also opposes the morning-after pill, which he considers to be a form of abortion. 

Last year, House Republicans, Mr. Akin among them, supported a bill changing the definition of rape to include only “forcible rape.” 

“This is clearly something that he believes,” an aide to Ms. McCaskill said Sunday.  

Excerpt:  Read More at the NY Times