Yes, some Republicans, particularly in Missouri, are even worse than Todd Akin. This woman is stupid in her thinking, and a disgrace to her gender and to humanity.
This is trying to condone pregnancy resulting from rape by claiming it was somehow God's will or that God cooperated in it. Wow, way to go - believing a rape victim is not just raped by a man, she's raped and impregnated by God and with God's help, if you're a demented anti-abortion wing nut.
Here is a more rational point of view. If you're raped and become pregnant, you don't have to go through 9 more months of being victimized; you can get an abortion. God has nothing to do with either the rape or the pregnancy. Those are entirely through the free will of a human being.
Unless you hold a view of religion which is pure superstition. If you wish to invoke a supernatural influence in rape, it would be more appropriate to claim the other extreme - evil, the Devil. (No, I don't recommend that either, but it is actually slightly more logical than the cuckoo-land right wing view.)
There is NOTHING whatsoever in the holy texts of any of the Abrahamic religions which supports this assertion about God. There is nothing in any OTHER religious texts of any of the other major world religions which supports it either.
from the Examiner:
GOP official says God chooses to bless raped women with pregnancy
The state of Missouri has been in the national spotlight recently because of comments made by Republican Congressman Todd Akin who claimed that raped women rarely get pregnant. After his statements hit the Internet, immediate outrage burned across the country. Akin later apologized, but his statements have rekindled a nationwide debate. One that republicans desperately do not want to have, lest they alienate a wide majority of female voters.
Sharon Barnes, a high ranking state Republican, came to the defense of her conservative colleague who she believes only "phrased it (his statement) badly."
Barnes was quoted by The New York Times saying, "abortion is never an option." Barnes went on to biblically claim that, "If God has chosen to bless this person [the rape victim] with a life, you don’t kill it."
Barnes did not elaborate on her views for post-pregnancy care, or costs.
Barnes has been a figure in conservative St. Louis politics for years, and currently holds all of the following titles according to her Linkedin profile:
This is on a par with Mike Huckabee trying to spin comments by Akin:
“Ethel Waters, for example, was the result of a forcible rape,” Huckabee said of the late American gospel singer. One-time presidential candidate Huckabee added: “I used to work for James Robison back in the 1970s, he leads a large Christian organization. He, himself, was the result of a forcible rape. And so I know it happens, and yet even from those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things.”
So what? There are many children who are not born from rape who go on to be good people. Being raped or not raped hasn't anything to do with it. It is like the stupid pro-life email that circulates about Beethoven, syphilis and tuberculosis as an argument against abortion:
Huckabee makes a false argument in support of rape pregnancies, like the factually challenged Beethoven/ tuberculosis/ syphilis argument. Anyone can potentially overcome the circumstances of their birth; however, medical and other circumstances are still legitimate considerations for any woman who is pregnant or may be pregnant, and overwhelmingly, the odds are not in favor of a rape pregnancy producing an exceptional human being any more than any other pregnancy is likely to produce a genius, or great humanitarian or religious leader. Odds more unfavorable than winning a lottery are not the basis for a life decision.
But while we are on the topic of failed arguments against abortion, let me fact check the anti-abortion email I've seen circulating way too many times since going on line.
Here are the Beethoven bio facts:
Peter and Jean Medawar,* in The Life Science, attribute the following version [of the Beethoven Fallacy] to Norman St John Stevas (now Lord St John), a British Member of Parliament and prominent Roman Catholic layman. He, in turn, got it from Maurice Baring (1874-1945), a noted Roman Catholic convert and close associate of those Catholic stalwarts G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. He cast it in the form of a hypothetical dialogue between two doctors.
'About the terminating of pregnancy, I want your opinion. The father was syphilitic, the mother tuberculous. Of the four children born, the first was blind, the second died,
the third was deaf and dumb, the fourth was also tuberculous. What would you have done?'
'I would have terminated the pregnancy.'
'Then you would have murdered Beethoven.'
The Internet is riddled with so-called pro-life web sites that repeat this ridiculous story, and incidentally change factual premises with wanton abandon. Here's another version.
'If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three of whom were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded (all because she had syphilis), would you recommend that she have an abortion? Then you would have killed Beethoven.'
This rendering of the legend demotes the great composer from fifth to ninth in the birth order, raises the number born deaf to three and the number born blind to two, and gives syphilis to the mother instead of the father. Most of the forty-three websites I found when searching for versions of the story attribute it not to Maurice Baring but to a certain Professor L. R. Agnew at UCLA Medical School, who is said to have put the dilemma to his students and to have told them, 'Congratulations, you have just murdered Beethoven.' We might charitably give L. R. Agnew the benefit of doubting his existence - it is amazing how these urban legends sprout. I cannot discover whether it was Baring who originated the legend, or whether it was invented earlier.
For invented it certainly was. It is completely false. The truth is that Ludwig van Beethoven was neither the ninth child nor the fifth child of his parents. He was the eldest - strictly the number two, but his elder sibling died in infancy, as was common in those days, and was not, so far as is known, blind or deaf or dumb or mentally retarded. There is no evidence that either of his parents had syphilis, although it is true that his mother eventually died of tuberculosis. There was a lot of it about at the time.
And while we are on the topic of bad examples, this should be noted about Ethel Waters (from wikipedia) - her mother was approximately 13 when she was raped; and Ethel Waters said of her childhood (such as it was):
"Ethel Waters was raised in poverty and never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. She said of her difficult childhood, "I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family."[2]
Ethel Waters went on herself to marry at 13. That she was able to make a career out of her singing was the result of pure luck. Her life after leaving home was far from ideal, again per wikipedia: "As she described it later, "I used to work from nine until unconscious."[4 Again, quoting wikiepedia, she wrote of the lies surrounding the circumstances of her birth, "She explains why her age has often been misstated, saying that her mother had to sign a paper saying she was four years older than she was, and that she was born in 1896. In her second autobiography, To Me, It's Wonderful, Waters states that she was born in 1900.[7
The reality of childhood rape is that it is unlikely to result in a talent who is discovered on the order of magnitude of Ethel Waters. It is more likely to result in the kind of family situations that lead to child abuse like that reported by Ethel Waters, and in both mother and child failing to get an education or to do more than barely survive in life - if they manage that.
Huckabee argues an exception that proves the rule. At least he was more factual than the pro-life email, but not by much.
This is trying to condone pregnancy resulting from rape by claiming it was somehow God's will or that God cooperated in it. Wow, way to go - believing a rape victim is not just raped by a man, she's raped and impregnated by God and with God's help, if you're a demented anti-abortion wing nut.
Here is a more rational point of view. If you're raped and become pregnant, you don't have to go through 9 more months of being victimized; you can get an abortion. God has nothing to do with either the rape or the pregnancy. Those are entirely through the free will of a human being.
Unless you hold a view of religion which is pure superstition. If you wish to invoke a supernatural influence in rape, it would be more appropriate to claim the other extreme - evil, the Devil. (No, I don't recommend that either, but it is actually slightly more logical than the cuckoo-land right wing view.)
There is NOTHING whatsoever in the holy texts of any of the Abrahamic religions which supports this assertion about God. There is nothing in any OTHER religious texts of any of the other major world religions which supports it either.
from the Examiner:
 |
| Sharon Barnes, Missouri GOP leader |
Sharon Barnes, a high ranking state Republican, came to the defense of her conservative colleague who she believes only "phrased it (his statement) badly."
Barnes was quoted by The New York Times saying, "abortion is never an option." Barnes went on to biblically claim that, "If God has chosen to bless this person [the rape victim] with a life, you don’t kill it."
Barnes did not elaborate on her views for post-pregnancy care, or costs.
Barnes has been a figure in conservative St. Louis politics for years, and currently holds all of the following titles according to her Linkedin profile:
- President of The 2nd Congressional District Republican Women
- President of The Republican Women's Club of St. Louis
- Vice President, Membership Committee at National Federation Of Republican Women
- Vice President of The Missouri Federation of Republican Women
- Chairman of The St. Louis City Republican Central Committee
- State Committeewoman, 4th Senate District at Missouri Republican Party
- Committeewoman, 24th Ward at Missouri Republican Party
- Volunteer at GOP Missouri Republican Party
This is on a par with Mike Huckabee trying to spin comments by Akin:
“Ethel Waters, for example, was the result of a forcible rape,” Huckabee said of the late American gospel singer. One-time presidential candidate Huckabee added: “I used to work for James Robison back in the 1970s, he leads a large Christian organization. He, himself, was the result of a forcible rape. And so I know it happens, and yet even from those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things.”
So what? There are many children who are not born from rape who go on to be good people. Being raped or not raped hasn't anything to do with it. It is like the stupid pro-life email that circulates about Beethoven, syphilis and tuberculosis as an argument against abortion:
'If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three of whom were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded (all because she had syphilis), would you recommend that she have an abortion? Then you would have killed Beethoven.'
Huckabee makes a false argument in support of rape pregnancies, like the factually challenged Beethoven/ tuberculosis/ syphilis argument. Anyone can potentially overcome the circumstances of their birth; however, medical and other circumstances are still legitimate considerations for any woman who is pregnant or may be pregnant, and overwhelmingly, the odds are not in favor of a rape pregnancy producing an exceptional human being any more than any other pregnancy is likely to produce a genius, or great humanitarian or religious leader. Odds more unfavorable than winning a lottery are not the basis for a life decision.
But while we are on the topic of failed arguments against abortion, let me fact check the anti-abortion email I've seen circulating way too many times since going on line.
Here are the Beethoven bio facts:
Peter and Jean Medawar,* in The Life Science, attribute the following version [of the Beethoven Fallacy] to Norman St John Stevas (now Lord St John), a British Member of Parliament and prominent Roman Catholic layman. He, in turn, got it from Maurice Baring (1874-1945), a noted Roman Catholic convert and close associate of those Catholic stalwarts G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. He cast it in the form of a hypothetical dialogue between two doctors.
'About the terminating of pregnancy, I want your opinion. The father was syphilitic, the mother tuberculous. Of the four children born, the first was blind, the second died,
the third was deaf and dumb, the fourth was also tuberculous. What would you have done?'
'I would have terminated the pregnancy.'
'Then you would have murdered Beethoven.'
The Internet is riddled with so-called pro-life web sites that repeat this ridiculous story, and incidentally change factual premises with wanton abandon. Here's another version.
'If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three of whom were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded (all because she had syphilis), would you recommend that she have an abortion? Then you would have killed Beethoven.'
This rendering of the legend demotes the great composer from fifth to ninth in the birth order, raises the number born deaf to three and the number born blind to two, and gives syphilis to the mother instead of the father. Most of the forty-three websites I found when searching for versions of the story attribute it not to Maurice Baring but to a certain Professor L. R. Agnew at UCLA Medical School, who is said to have put the dilemma to his students and to have told them, 'Congratulations, you have just murdered Beethoven.' We might charitably give L. R. Agnew the benefit of doubting his existence - it is amazing how these urban legends sprout. I cannot discover whether it was Baring who originated the legend, or whether it was invented earlier.
For invented it certainly was. It is completely false. The truth is that Ludwig van Beethoven was neither the ninth child nor the fifth child of his parents. He was the eldest - strictly the number two, but his elder sibling died in infancy, as was common in those days, and was not, so far as is known, blind or deaf or dumb or mentally retarded. There is no evidence that either of his parents had syphilis, although it is true that his mother eventually died of tuberculosis. There was a lot of it about at the time.
And while we are on the topic of bad examples, this should be noted about Ethel Waters (from wikipedia) - her mother was approximately 13 when she was raped; and Ethel Waters said of her childhood (such as it was):
"Ethel Waters was raised in poverty and never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. She said of her difficult childhood, "I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family."[2]
Ethel Waters went on herself to marry at 13. That she was able to make a career out of her singing was the result of pure luck. Her life after leaving home was far from ideal, again per wikipedia: "As she described it later, "I used to work from nine until unconscious."[4 Again, quoting wikiepedia, she wrote of the lies surrounding the circumstances of her birth, "She explains why her age has often been misstated, saying that her mother had to sign a paper saying she was four years older than she was, and that she was born in 1896. In her second autobiography, To Me, It's Wonderful, Waters states that she was born in 1900.[7
The reality of childhood rape is that it is unlikely to result in a talent who is discovered on the order of magnitude of Ethel Waters. It is more likely to result in the kind of family situations that lead to child abuse like that reported by Ethel Waters, and in both mother and child failing to get an education or to do more than barely survive in life - if they manage that.
Huckabee argues an exception that proves the rule. At least he was more factual than the pro-life email, but not by much.
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