Quote:

---

Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock has said that pregnancy caused by rape is something "God intended" and not a situation that justifies an abortion, roiling a tight race less than two weeks before the election.

Mr Mourdock's comment came in response to a voter-submitted question toward the end of a debate on Tuesday night with his opponents, Democratic US Representative Joe Donnelly and Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning.

"I've struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realise that life is that gift from God," said Mr Mourdock, the state's treasurer. "And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."
Republican Richard Mourdock participates in a debate with Democrat Joe Donnelly and Libertarian Andrew Horning.

Mr Mourdock, who described his position on abortion as believing that "life begins at conception," made his remark two months after Missouri Senate Republican candidate Todd Akin said that "legitimate rape" rarely leads to pregnancy.

Mr Akin, a US House member seeking to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, later apologised while rejecting calls from fellow Republicans to withdraw from the Missouri race.

The Indiana contest is among the most closely watched in the US Senate, along with races in Massachusetts, Missouri and Virginia. Republicans must hold all five of their competitive seats in the November 6 election and pick up four seats to win control of the Senate.

A Tea Party favourite, Mr Mourdock, defeated six-term Republican incumbent Richard Lugar by 20 percentage points in a May primary with an anti-tax, anti-Washington message. Mr Mourdock's general election contest with Mr Donnelly is rated as a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Mr Mourdock, 61, has the endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who voiced his support in an ad that began airing on October 22 in Evansville, according to Kantar Media's CMAG, which tracks advertising.

"Governor Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an e-mail.
Says Republican senator.

During last night's debate in New Albany, Indiana, Mr Mourdock said he knew that some people disagreed with his abortion stance and that he respected their point of view.

"The only exception I have to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother," he said.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, assailed Mr Mourdock's remark.

"Richard Mourdock's rape comments are outrageous and demeaning to women," Ms Wasserman Schultz said in a statement posted last night on the DNC website. "Unfortunately, they've become part and parcel of the modern Republican Party's platform toward women's health."

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

It's not a point I happen to agree with, nor would I be terribly eager to VOTE for anyone who thinks like this, but I suppose there are some that will.

---

Quote:

---

I think the idiot could have said this on Nov 7th, but that's not what he did.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

I think the idiot could have said this on Nov 7th, but that's not what he did.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:
If you hold to the belief that there IS a god, and that each life is of his making , his design, and that every human is a gift FROM said god, regardless of the manner in which said human is created, be it from loving, responsible parents, rape, a test tube, or immaculate conception, I guess this guy has a point.

It's not a point I happen to agree with, nor would I be terribly eager to VOTE for anyone who thinks like this, but I suppose there are some that will.

I think the idiot could have said this on Nov 7th, but that's not what he did.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:

So Rappy's problem with the guy isn't what he said, but his timing in when he said it.


I'll try to hide my surprise.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:
I think little rappy is a virgin. It looks like all he know about sex is what he reads and how his hand feels.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:
So, how about you don't talk about what can happen between real people in the real world. B/c frankly, your confusion of your fantasy with reality is creepy. That you would mistake a slightly risque fictional reference with the real brutality of rape, and think that it has anything to do with forced pregnancy, is beyond stupid.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Jongsstraw:
2) If I were a girl or woman and someone told me I couldn't have an abortion if I wanted one, I'd tell 'em to fuck off or I'd kill him."

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:

So Rappy's problem with the guy isn't what he said, but his timing in when he said it.


I'll try to hide my surprise.

---

Per this issue it is, yeah. He should shut the hell up, because abortion isn't relevant in this election. Not sure it'll be relevant in any upcoming election.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:
So, how about you don't talk about what can happen between real people in the real world. B/c frankly, your confusion of your fantasy with reality is creepy. That you would mistake a slightly risque fictional reference with the real brutality of rape, and think that it has anything to do with forced pregnancy, is beyond stupid.

---

The Left are going to have to decide which sort of discussion you want to have on this matter. A serious one, where both sides present their views, honestly, sincerely, and showing respect for each other, OR dabble in the absurd, with idiotic images of ' rape advisory charts ', and telling women to " wake the fuck up! ", or attempting to insult others by suggesting that they're virgins or some such.

Pick one.

The tweet made @Nathan was in response to the 'humor' posted by you and kwickie. Whether YOU found it inappropriate or not, doesn't matter to me.


" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:
[The Left are going to have to decide which sort of discussion you want to have on this matter. A serious one, where both sides present their views, honestly, sincerely, and showing respect for each other, OR dabble in the absurd, with idiotic images of ' rape advisory charts ', and telling women to " wake the fuck up! ", or attempting to insult others by suggesting that they're virgins or some such.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Is that a real picture or some sort of computer simulation?

Looks like a gummy bear.

...Will never eat gummy bears again.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Real picture.

Is it a person?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AgentRouka:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:
Real picture.

Is it a person?

---

It's a human being. (Hate that bullshit argument that it's not. It's human.)

It's not yet a person. (Birth. The moment of physical separation from the 'host', to me, in terms of personhood rights.)

Its rights do not trump those of its host. Ever.

Every abortion is a sad failure of circumstances to be optimal. It's tragic and sad and shouldn't ever have to happen. We should strive to stop them from ever being necessary. But the world is not perfect, so when the necessity arises (i.e. a woman feels she needs one), women should not be impeded in determining what happens to their own bodies, even if it is at the sad expense of an early-stage human being. No one has a right to another person's body, even to live.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Kwicko:


Actually, it's not a human being. It's not human. It's not a person.

That's an elephant embryo in the picture.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AgentRouka:
Anyway, that was neat. :)

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by HKCavalier:
See? You thought I was kidding, but it's true: whether human or pachyderm or herring, we all begin life as gummi bears!

I remember watching that old kommie kid's show Kaptain Kangaroo and they actually had a segment on this with a chart showing embryonic development. On the left side were 4 zygotes and then there were several columns moving to the right over the chart until the actual baby animal was pictured on the far right. So at the age of 5 I learned that we all start out with tails and we're pretty much indistinguishable from frogs or kittens until the last few weeks of gestation.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by AURaptor:

The Left are going to have to decide which sort of discussion you want to have on this matter. A serious one, where both sides present their views, honestly, sincerely, and showing respect for each other, OR dabble in the absurd, with idiotic images of ' rape advisory charts ', and telling women to " wake the fuck up! ", or attempting to insult others by suggesting that they're virgins or some such.

Pick one.

---

Quote:

---

WASHINGTON: First it was Todd Akin. Then Steve King. Then Joe Walsh. Then Richard Mourdock.

One after another, Republican congressional nominees opened their mouths, inserted their feet and embarrassed their party.

Mr Akin, running for the US Senate in Missouri, said rape survivors don't need abortions because ''if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down''.
Todd Akin

Todd Akin. Photo: AP

Mr King, an Iowa congressman up for re-election, deflected a question about abortions for 12-year-old rape victims by saying: ''I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way''. Mr Walsh, a House incumbent in Illinois, asserted that ''with modern technology and science, you can't find one instance'' where abortion is necessary to protect a woman's life or health.
Advertisement

Mr Mourdock, the Republican nominee for US Senate in Indiana, opined that ''even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen''.

For Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, these episodes have been a two-month headache. First, he had to override his vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan's, opposition to abortions for rape victims. Then he had to apologise for Mr Akin's comment. Then he had to apologise for Mr Mourdock's. And the apology tour might be just getting started, because they are hardly alone.

Their view - that abortion should be banned even in cases of sexual assault - isn't just the party's official position. It's the most commonly held position among new Republican nominees for the US Senate.

Thirty-three Senate seats are at stake in next month's election. Five are held by Republican incumbents whose nominations were never seriously contested. In the remaining 28 states, three nominations (Connecticut, Hawaii and Rhode Island) were won by pro-choice candidates.

Eight (Arizona, California, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin) went to candidates who said abortion should be outlawed except in cases of rape or incest.

Three (Delaware, Maryland and Minnesota) went to pro-lifers who haven't clarified their stance on exceptions. The rest - 12 nominations - went to candidates who would ban abortion even for survivors of sexual assault. That's a plurality of the party's primaries.

In Vermont, the state right-to-life committee-certified Republican nominee, John MacGovern, as ''fully pro-life''. When asked whether ''a woman should be forced by the government to give birth to a rapist's baby'', he said: ''I've always in my career and to this day been loyal to the principle of life … I'm pro-life to my core.''

In Ohio, the state Treasurer, Josh Mandel, rejected a rape exception: ''I'll do everything I can to protect innocent life.''

In Michigan, congressman, Pete Hoekstra, was asked if a woman should have to bear her rapist's child. Already on record against a rape exception, he replied: ''I believe life is a gift.''

In New York, a member of Mr Romney's Justice Advisory Committee, Wendy Long, boasted during her primary that she was ''100 per cent pro-life'', whereas her opponents would grant ''exceptions'' to an abortion ban.

In Washington, state senator, Michael Baumgartner, admitted that ''rape is a tragedy'' but concluded: ''I still believe life begins at conception. That is consistent with my Catholic beliefs. And I believe we must protect life.''

In North Dakota, a reporter asked the congressman, Rick Berg: ''You would not make an exception for rape?'' Mr Berg replied: ''No.''

The Senate numbers for Republicans are equally striking. Of the 28 non-incumbent nominees, 12 to 15 share the view of Mr Akin, Mr Mourdock and the party platform: a rape victim should not end her pregnancy.

This is no longer a fringe position. It isn't a couple of gaffes by renegade crackpots. It's the predominant view among Republican nominees for the nation's highest legislative body. It's what the Republican Party is.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Wishimay:
Oh, another one...

Someone really needs to rape these guys and then force them to wear one of those pregnancy suits for nine months and then strap a bag of rocks to their waist for 3 or four years for them to get it...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226053/John-Koster-Abortion-l
egal-involves-rape-thing.html

---