GOP Lawmaker: If Pregnancy Results From Rape It’s ‘Beautiful’
You may want to prepare to toss your computer into a fire as what you are about to read will induce serious rage. We have another GOP lawmaker talking about rape and this time, he wants to remind you of a “beautiful” thing that could result from it- a possible pregnancy. That’s right, everyone. West Virginia Del. Brian Kurcaba wants you to understand that a baby resulting from rape might not be so bad after all. I only wish I were kidding- but this guy is deadly serious.
From Huffington Post:
“Obviously rape is awful,” West Virginia Del. Brian Kurcaba (R) said during a committee hearing on a new abortion restriction, according to David Gutman, a Charleston Gazette reporter. “What is beautiful is the child that could come from this.”
This may be the most stunningly offensive statement about rape that I have ever heard from a politician. Todd Akin and his “legitimate rape” bullshit was one thing but to suggest that a woman should openly welcome a pregnancy resulting from rape is just beyond. To be so dismissive and cavalier- “obviously rape is awful”, and then going on to brush it off like it’s no big deal if you should become pregnant as a result. Like, forget you were raped and all that awfulness- you could be a MOTHER! If a woman has been raped, she will be reliving those moments for years to come, probably the rest of her life. Some women might be ok with having a child resulting from rape but to suggest that EVERY woman should feel that way? To the point where it is law? How totally reprehensible.
The Huffington Post piece quotes other GOP lawmakers on the topic of rape and it’s a lovely reminder that Republicans are the party against women, bar none:
Kurcada’s comment about rape and abortion is similar to an argument made by U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana in October 2012. “I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,” Mourdock said in a debate.
There is really very little to say about this statement- it is clearly, the worst. How purely evil to suggest that any God would intend for a woman to be raped and to then carry a resulting pregnancy to term.
And of course, the human shit stain that is Todd Akin:
”If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said of pregnancy. “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 of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”
The “legitimate rape” insanity aside, I take huge issue with Akin referring to it as “attacking the child”, as not everyone agrees on when life begins. And I tend to be more concerned about a woman who actually WAS attacked rather than the pregnancy she may chose to terminate after becoming pregnant through rape. It boggles my mind, the cognitive dissonance involved in caring so much about a zygote (LIFE!) but not worrying about a woman who may be driven to harm herself if forced to carry her rapist’s child.
A woman’s choice should be her own, no matter what. Personally, I am pro-choice for every woman in every situation- raped, married, single, rich, poor, old, young. It does not matter why a woman would have an abortion- it is HER personal choice and it needs to remain so. Trying to tell a woman pregnant as the result of rape to keep her “blessing” is the wrongest of wrongs. If a woman pregnant by rape can somehow overcome that trauma and decides to carry the baby, she deserves all the support in the world. If she decides to terminate the pregnancy, she should have all the support in the world for that too. I cannot possibly imagine being in that position which is why I will not ever judge another woman’s choice. And neither should these lawmakers.
(Image: Sebastian Duda/Shutterstock)
