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Rape Pregnancies Are Rare
Christian Life Resources ^ | April 1999 | John C. Willke, M.D.

Posted on 08/22/2012 3:08:34 PM PDT by JediJones

First, let's define the term "rape." When pro-lifers speak of rape pregnancies, we should commonly use the phrase "forcible rape" or "assault rape," for that specifies what we're talking about. Rape can also be statutory. Depending upon your state law, statutory rape can be consensual, but we're not addressing that here.

Assault rape pregnancies are extremely rare. Most pro-lifers have heard this comment, but too often cannot back it up with facts. A candidate for office in the State of Arkansas made this comment before the last elections. He was roundly criticized and ridiculed by the opposing candidate and the media. Unfortunately, there was no evidence that he offered substantive proof to back up his claim that rape pregnancies were rare.

How many forcible rapes result in a pregnancy? Some feminists have claimed as high as 5 to 10 percent, which is absurd.

Finally, factor in what is certainly one of the most important reasons why a rape victim rarely gets pregnant, and that's physical trauma. Every woman is aware that stress and emotional factors can alter her menstrual cycle. To get and stay pregnant a woman's body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain that is easily influenced by emotions. There's no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy. So what further percentage reduction in pregnancy will this cause? No one knows, but this factor certainly cuts this last figure by at least 50 percent and probably more. If we use the 50 percent figure, we have a final figure of 225 (or 370) women pregnant each year.

(Excerpt) Read more at christianliferesources.com ...


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KEYWORDS: akin; akinmedicallywrong; legitimaterape; pregnancy; prolife; quack; rape
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To: exDemMom

Thanks — Come join in the action. It’s over here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2921703/posts


61 posted on 08/22/2012 6:21:55 PM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: JediJones

“Dumb is as dumb does, and Akin’s voting record is very nice from what I’ve seen. If you’re going to throw out every politician for a smarter replacement, they’d all be gone....”
********************************************************************
Yes, dumb is as dumb does. Conservatives who want Akin to withdraw want to do that because he no longer can win the election—and he’s done that to himself. He has only himself to blame. Real dumbness is on display from so called conservative folks who want him to stay in the race and thus not allow him to be replaced by another conservative who is not self-fatally-wounded and who can actually defeat McCaskill.

Of course, should he come to his senses now and attempt to withdraw, his withdrawal would be fought tooth-and-nail by the McCaskill campaign, the Missouri and National Democrat parties, the despicable Robin Carnaha (Missouri’s corrupt Democrat Secretary of State) and useful idiots on this forum. Yeah, like you said, dumb is as dumb does.


62 posted on 08/22/2012 6:24:24 PM PDT by House Atreides
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To: JediJones
And you think Romney’s getting the “feelings” voters with gaffes like “I like being able to fire people” and “I’m not concerned about the very poor?”

you need to put down your copy of the New York Times and pay atteention to what he really said.....I like to fire people referred to a private citizen being able to fire a hired hand that did not do a satisfactory job......He followed up on the lack of concern for the poor by stating that they were already adequately cared for....wake up, you sound like a Democrat

63 posted on 08/22/2012 7:36:34 PM PDT by terycarl
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To: PghBaldy
McCaskill will beat Akin in a landslide.

nonsense...if the party stays with him, he will destroy her....if the party does not, he will still beat her soundly. The state is really fed up with her and I could win against her and I don't even live there.

seriously, in two or three weeks this won't even be in the memories of the voters. Think about it, most don't understand the controversy, many don't care, some (I) agree with him, and there are a whole lot more important issues on the table.

those who vote straight party (most) will still pull the lever the same way.

64 posted on 08/22/2012 7:53:08 PM PDT by terycarl
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To: JediJones

Romney never would.


65 posted on 08/22/2012 7:59:17 PM PDT by steve8714
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To: terycarl
you need to put down your copy of the New York Times and pay atteention to what he really said.....I like to fire people referred to a private citizen being able to fire a hired hand that did not do a satisfactory job......He followed up on the lack of concern for the poor by stating that they were already adequately cared for....wake up, you sound like a Democrat

Right, but they're quotes when taken by themselves out of context can be used by Democrats in campaign ads to hurt Republicans. Which is the same argument people are using to say Akin should step down. I'm saying I don't understand the inconsistency. Every politician misspeaks and makes gaffes.

66 posted on 08/22/2012 8:22:26 PM PDT by JediJones (Too Hot for GOP TV: Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Allen West and Donald Trump)
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To: UCANSEE2; xjcsa
A good place to check for the real facts is http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/ab-poland.html

Take Poland as a test case example - it has banned all abortions except for rape, physical harm to the mother and genetic defects in the foetus

how many abortions does it have a year? out of 413,300 live births in 2010 they had 644 abortions --> that is about 0.15%.

in contrast let's take a country that allows abortions freely, like the Netherlands. In 2010, out of 184,915 they had 30,984 -- 14%!

And for the USA, the statistics are for 2008 -- we had 1,212,350 babies killed out of 4,247,694 --> 22%. We are among the top babykillers....

Anyway, to my point --> if you allow abortions for rape, mother's health and feotal defects it is 0.16% of babies killed. If it is free for all, it is 22% --> that means that only 0.1% of abortions are for these (rape etc. ) reasons.

67 posted on 08/23/2012 4:38:29 AM PDT by Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)
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To: Paleo Conservative
read my post above -- right now we have 1 million babies killed a year. If we limited abortion to only those cases taken as examples by "pro-babykilling-choice" then we would have 7,500 or less killed a year.

I also agree with you on what should be done to the rapists.

and the women should not be shunned who give birth -- rather they should be helped by society, churches, US.

68 posted on 08/23/2012 4:42:00 AM PDT by Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)
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To: exDemMom

Excellent analysis.


69 posted on 08/23/2012 4:56:08 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: JediJones; terycarl

Except it wasn’t a gaffe, and was in context. Dems will take his legit rape comment (which was a gaffe) and run with that. It’s what they do. They will also take his “shut it down” comment (which was not a gaffe) and run with that. The latter comment is the one that most people are upset about. It’s unsubstantiated studies that can are shown to be proven and disproven. To state such a thing, this close to election day, was idiotic and will hurt his chances severly.


70 posted on 08/23/2012 5:02:40 AM PDT by justice14 ("stand up defend or lay down and die")
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To: exDemMom

And to get to the “legitimate rape” comment. I believe he meant “actual rape as opposed to claimed rape”.

For me, rape is when sex is forced on a woman. And I don’t include statutory rape. But that’s just me.

And the background point I was hearing in his remarks was that when you allow abortion in cases of rape, the rate of “unsolved rape” would skyrocket for obvious reasons.

If there is no police report, there is no rape. Period.


71 posted on 08/23/2012 5:26:49 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Sherman Logan
8x as many rapes occur as are reported, which also seems high.

The bulk of rapes occur against minors.

And the bulk of those, in turn, are perpetrated by an authority figure.

Where do you come up with an idea that a high percentage of those would be reported? Often the result (which we see time in again in reported cases) is the dissolution of the kid's family.

72 posted on 08/23/2012 8:09:03 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Uncle Chip
Excellent analysis.

Thank you.

73 posted on 08/23/2012 4:38:50 PM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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To: wagglebee; P-Marlowe; Gene Eric; cripplecreek; cva66snipe; Elvina; Finny; greyfoxx39; Hilda; ...

This was already posted.


74 posted on 08/23/2012 7:52:51 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True supporters of our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: JediJones

Pregnancies resulting from rape are no different than pregnancies resulting from consensual sex. It either happens or it doesn’t.


75 posted on 08/23/2012 7:54:51 PM PDT by hitchwolf
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To: xzins

Thanks!


76 posted on 08/23/2012 7:58:04 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: xzins; svcw

To follow up on questions raised earlier, my concern on the Akin issue is the reasonable interpretation of his remarks. And in consideration of his initial remarks, the only reasonable conclusion that makes sense is the notion that abortion is not acceptable in the case where rape is not a factor. No discernible opinion was given on abortion where rape (of any kind) is a factor.


77 posted on 08/23/2012 8:12:32 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
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To: xzins
This was already posted.

Why are you pinging me to inform me that an article has already been posted?

In fact, now that I think about it, why do you ping me at all, did I ask to be put on your ping list? If I did, please remove me, if not, stop pinging me, kthx. :)
78 posted on 08/23/2012 8:34:01 PM PDT by mkjessup (0bama squats to pee.)
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To: Sherman Logan
You are correct but you are going to take flak for it.

A miscarriage is medically considered an abortion which is why the original Hippocratic Oath says that he will not "give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion."

Sometimes you will hear a doctor speak of an "induced abortion" and a "natural abortion".

79 posted on 08/23/2012 8:40:46 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Fate plays chess and you don't find out until too late that he's been using two queens all along)
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To: JediJones
While many of the good doctor's considerations are valid, this is failed analysis for its overlapping segments and unlikely fully-paired distributions. For example, the fraction of men and women who are sterile is far higher as they get older, when they are less likely either to commit forcible rape or be raped respectively, yet he reduces the total population without qualification and does so with successive cuts rather in parallel as they should be (IOW his is terribly flawed analytical method).

Whether or no, Akin was so stupid to fall into this obvious trap that he is unqualified to be a Senator if only because of the political damage he would do. Even his apology didn't address how the baby should not be punished for the crime of the rapist. By his comments, their flaky bases, and his lack of political common sense, he has set the pro-life movement back ten years. For that, you should be as PO'd with him as anyone.

Yet even if he does quit, given the GOP-e, our biggest resulting problem (in addition to the obvious consequences in the polls) is that if Akin should drop out, it will be very difficult to replace him with a conservative candidate and not a RINO. Were he truly so committed to principle as he claims, this is where he could and should make restitution, demanding that he will not relent unless his replacement is an appropriately conservative candidate. I don't see any possibility of that kind of commitment from him, which makes him an breast-beating fraud, and not a moral conservative.

80 posted on 08/23/2012 8:44:33 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (The Slave Party Switcheroo: Economic crisis! Zero's eligibility Trumped!! Hillary 2012!!!)
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