Indeed. But, he didn’t make the argument that a rape exception would force the government to decide what qualifies for the exception and what doesn’t. That’s an argument worth having — not sure its one we’d win, but its certainly worth debating.
Akin’s statement was not nearly so nuanced.
Instead, he made the dumbassed argument that legitimate rape usually doesn’t result in pregnancy ... thus implicitly questioning the ‘legitimacy’ of any rape that did result in pregnancy. That’s just not a defensible position.
SnakeDoc
He said what he said badly, but my point is that instead of taking up the left’s talking points, why aren’t Republicans out there using this opportunity to make the right arguments? Instead what are we doing? Piling on making their points for them!
Why would he or anyone else question whether something occurred just because it's rare? You don't rule out something happening just because it's rare. That's how the iceberg sunk the Titanic. He wasn't implying at all that we should question whether someone was really raped or not. That's a huge stretch of his statements and nowhere near the realm of the discussion they were having.
Another key being that Akin was differentiating from statutory rape as the Doctor who advanced the theory in the first place did in his article. “Legitimate” was being used to mean a forcible rape, not a statutory one where Akin was making no such claim that a pregnancy would be less likely.
It is clear to me that he misspoke and what he meant to say was "bona fide" or something similar. There are plenty of "rapes" that aren't--just Google "false accusation of rape" for stories on that.
As a person who often says the wrong word, I would be the last one to rake someone else over the coals for using the wrong word.