I’ve watched the Todd Akin (and by extension the GOP) gaffe debacle play out with equal parts bemusement and revulsion… of course it’s fun to watch the GOP and Mitt Romney stepping all over certain parts of their anatomy trying to simultaneously reject and embrace Akin’s meanderings, of course the parsing of “rape” is repulsive, of course the schadenfreude is delicious… I’m enjoying the freakshow as much as the next guy, but it occurred to me this morning that the same people who’d dare question whether or not a woman has been “legitimately” raped and have no problem taking it upon themselves to define the parameters under which a “rape” would qualify a woman to abort a resultant pregnancy, would also have no problem forcing the same burdens of proof upon those who claim incest or risk of life to the mother.
Will it now be incumbent upon women (and girls) to PROVE “legitimate” incest, and if so, by what method must they do so? Will there be an “Incest Panel”, charged with analyzing DNA samples taken in utero? And what will the standard be in terms of the closeness of the relationship to qualify as “legitimate” incest? Immediate family? First cousins? Second cousins? “Sorry, little lady… there’s no proof that your cousin forcibly raped you and, well, you can’t really claim incest either because you’re not his sister… enjoy the baby shower and God’s little ‘gift’ now, ya hear?”
And what of medical risk? What standard will there be to establish the “legitimacy” of that? Who’ll “man” (pun intended) the “Death Panels” that determine just how “legitimately risky” a particular pregnancy may or may not be? Would carrying the child to term result in certain death, or just probable death? Will potentially debilitating, though not deadly complications be excluded? Certainly the “Right to Life” folks proved with their shameless flogging of Teri Schiavo just how little they care about the quality of a woman’s life in relation to furthering their own “ProLife” (sic) agenda for purely political purposes.
Make no mistake... parsing rape is just the tip of the iceberg with these ghouls…