Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Rape and abortion have filled the headlines this week. Todd Akin's medieval assessment of women's fertility and "legitimate" rape astounded me. The only silver lining was hearing Mitt Romney and many other Republicans condemn Akin flat out. Akin forfeited any claim on morality. His tepid non-retraction, followed by doubling-down confounds me.
For more than twenty years, I kept it a secret. I was 17 when it happened. My sense of self changed forever. Over the course of six days, the tastes, the tightness of the phone cord that bound my hands, and the violence of their exertions, and especially the smells of those young men that raped me repeatedly in a squalid apartment, were seared into my memory. They introduced me to evil, embodied evil incarnate quite literally, and it is through them that my dialogue with evil began. This experience brought about my first unforced prayers to God.
When the attackers left to get another victim, after promising to make me an example, I convinced their drug-addled accomplice to let me use the bathroom without supervision while he got high again. I called my parents, my father came and I knew he would and could protect me. The Second Amendment, the concealed carry permit, my father's years of practice meant I would make it home alive.
A hot shower, unconditional love, and the absence of shame was all I craved. I knew my attackers could not find me, that I could not identify them, and the ordeal was over.
There was no such thing as a call to 911, and a heroic cop emerging with all the magic answers at just the right time like some episodic drama on television. This is not an episode of my life I wanted to save on the DVR list.
Criminalizing the victim of rape isn't a moral win, or a legal win. Women are not property. If he and his supporters read the Constitution, I would like to refer them to the protections afforded men and women. We are equal. We have religious freedom. We have the same rights. Akin has never been the 17 year old gang rape victim terrified of pregnancy, trying to heal. I have. By the Grace of God, I was not pregnant. I have known others who were not so fortunate, women who chose to abort and women who carried a child to term.
Akin decided this week is a great opportunity to fundraise. The criminalizing of rape victims combined with raising campaign cash on the corpses of unimplanted embryos, implanted embryos, fetuses, babies, or the term of your choosing is just as abhorrent as the hyper-partisan Left pretending they care about protecting rape victims, when what they actually do is raise money off of the same unborn children.
The sanctity of our womb and the struggle to balance laws for people of many faiths and no faith makes for labrynthine political discourse. If we lived in the perfect world where every pregnancy was a blessing, I would stand shoulder to shoulder with Akin. But we don't. We live in a world where rape is one of the most under reported crimes, because women fear the shame will define them.
I have seen evil, experienced evil, and been delivered through the fire by God's mercy. No man who shares Akin's view of my womb, no woman who wishes to replace his zealotry with her own, deserves to be seen as a mainstream representative of any political party or as a spokesperson for God.
Rape is a crime so heinous that when used systemically, as it was in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide, it is considered a Crime Against Humanity and a tool of genocide. It is dehumanizing, degrading and an act of pure evil. For someone of faith to profess no concern for the women who suffer this trauma, and instead focus on one piece of a horrific puzzle for partisan gain is unconscionable. Just as the callous taking of an innocent life is. The settled law in our nation preserves an uncomfortable balance. There is no simple policy fix.
Sovereignty over self is the greatest freedom of all. Our Creator endowed us with life and liberty but it is his mercy and Grace that sustains me today.
For reading on the political implications, please read Rick Wilson's brilliant and cogent piece on the need for Adult Supervision here on Ricochet.
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Because I wrote in another thread that, in relation to Akin, Republicans should adopt the position that he may be an idiot but he's our idiot, I feel I should offer an apology and explanation.
I was not thinking in terms of principle put entirely in terms of election campaign tactics. Akin's weird theory about women's fertility makes him a poor candidate, but still preferable to McCaskill. He may be marching to a different drummer, but he is going in the right general direction.
A piece of advice in a first aid manual I have is that, if you are bitten by a spider or snake, try not to panic and do not run.
Nov '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Rape is abhorrent. All non-psychopaths think so.
Akin indeed misspoke. He showed medical ignorance and used ambiguous language. Maybe it means he's insufficiently sympathetic. Probably it means he shouldn't run for office.
That said, the entire world appears to be in the grip of an irrational Akin hate-fest. To give him the benefit of the doubt is verboten. Akin has become a lightning rod for generalized female animus again men. Woe betide insufficiently passionate denouncers!
Consider:
A while ago, actress Whoopi Goldberg said that the factual drugging and buggering of a 13-year old girl by Roman Polanski wasn't "rape rape". Yet this didn't have quite the same impact. Black, Democratic, pro-choice, female celebrities just don't make good lightning rods.
Akin didn't endorse rape. Akin said he wanted the rapist punished, not the unborn child, in those cases where rape led to pregnancy (proving he didn't deny the possibility).
Sure, Akin held (and has probably now abandoned) groundless beliefs about non-consent impeding pregnancy. But Akin isn't the devil.
So count me out of this collective character assassination. I will not defame someone to trumpet my abhorrence of rape.
Mar '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
What Aodhan said.
Jun '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Ditto. Akin's heart is probably in the right place. If so, he's not very deft at expressing it in all the important ways, but he's probably a decent guy. I'm not very good at covering all my bases either. But I'm not running for anything. Akin's other problem is the poor quality of his homework. If you want to be just one of one-hundred US Senators, you need to study a little harder than he studies. And if you haven't studied the issue carefully, just shut up. The reason he should drop out is, he's too stupid to know that he's not salvageable as a candidate. The fact that he's staying proves that he shouldn't stay.
Sep '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
This is a truly horrific event and (at least politically) helps to define the edges of the debate over abortion, but these are the edges. The real debate IMHO is about Roe and whether there can be any sensible (or for that matter non-sensible) regulation of abortion at all.
Once Roe is overturned we can debate the edges of the various laws that states will enact. Right now we are just dancing around the main issue as best as folks of good conscience can (like chained up, barking dogs).
To predict the future after Roe, I suspect that most states that enact bans will wind up with rape and incest and probably other exceptions. Maybe not at first, but it will take (IMHO) one or two stories like Ms. Blackney's to swing an election and once that happens I think you will find the politicians of either party acting quite sensibly in their own interests.
Jan '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
What a powerful and moving story. Oh my. Some of the comments are quite difficult to read. The aftermath of such a horrific event should be the result of a discussion between the woman and her doctor. All the rest of us should have very little to say. We have no right to weigh in to this discussion.
Dec '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Reasonable people can disagree about who is a person, why, and the logical consequences that are an extension of that discussion.
May '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Thank you for sharing this, Elizabeth. I deeply admire your courage.
Elizabeth Blackney:
Akin decided this week is a great opportunity to fundraise. The criminalizing of rape victims combined with raising campaign cash on the corpses of unimplanted embryos, implanted embryos, fetuses, babies, or the term of your choosing is just as abhorrent as the hyper-partisan Left pretending they care about protecting rape victims, when what they actually do is raise money off of the same unborn children.
I feel the same way about this. There is no way abortion rights will be overturned, so stop raising money like there's a possibility. Put those resources to work on education and prevention. And how is it okay to condemn abortion but advocate for the death of the rapist? A life is a life. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I became pregnant as the result of rape, especially so young. I'd like to say I'd carry it to term and give the baby to an adoptive family. But I don't know, and I don't want to make that choice for another woman. If that makes me pro-choice, so be it.
Jun '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Are there any other kinds of murder that are not your business, or just abortion?
Jan '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Elizabeth, I praise your courage. Being able to trust others with that story, when your own self was invaded so violently, is an act of great courage.
It's clear that you have a dignity that no one can take from you.
Mar '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Karen: Thank you for sharing this, Elizabeth. I deeply admire your courage.
And how is it okay to condemn abortion but advocate for the death of the rapist? A life is a life. I honestly don't know what I'd do if I became pregnant as the result of rape, especially so young. I'd like to say I'd carry it to term and give the baby to an adoptive family. But I don't know, and I don't want to make that choice for another woman. If that makes me pro-choice, so be it.
This is a false equivalence - an unborn child has comitted no crime, a rapist is a criminal. Criminals are punished in retribution for their crimes, what crime has an unborn child committed?
Saying that you "don't want to make that choice for another woman" is sidestepping the issue. I don't want to make a choice on whether someone shoplifts, but that doesn't mean we should condone shoplifting. If something is wrong, it is wrong no matter what you "choose".
No one who says they are "pro-choice" is really for choice, they're for legal abortion.
Mar '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Ditto here too.
Aug '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Human beings consist of a body and a spirit. The spirit of a person existed long before the body was created. At some point in the development of a fetus the person's spirit enters into it. Destroying the fetus is a horrific act but it does not destroy the spirit of that person. Our Heavenly Father will provide another opportunity for that spirit to come to earth in a different body.
A woman who terminates a pregnancy because she can't be inconvenienced by a baby is doing herself great harm spiritually and emotionally. Her act is contrary to our Heavenly Father's plan. A woman who gets pregnant as a result of rape or incest or who's life is threatened by pregnancy and chooses to have an abortion is not harming herself and she is not destroying the spirit of that child. God will not condemn her - she has not sinned.
Certainly elective abortion is a serious sin but it is not murder. A society that allows millions of unborn children to be aborted in the womb will reap the whirlwind of God's judgement. To not allow rape victims to terminate their pregnancy is very cruel.
Jan '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Hi Mel Foil. We obviously disagree on this issue. My original comment #26 pretty much sums up my thinking on this difficult and tragic subject. I do not want our personal disagreement to detract from what is a courageous and extremely heartfelt post from Ms. Blackney. But please hear me every Republican politician - "what follows should be the result of a discussion between a woman and her doctor". Cheers
Mar '11
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Umm, not sure where you're getting that, but assuming you're right, then murder never truly exists because the spririt is never destroyed.
May '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Out of curiosity, is this a Mormon belief or a personal belief?
I expect (but don't know) that there are babies and children in Heaven. Children give and evoke love differently than adults. I imagine all kinds of love are perfected in Heaven.
Jun '12
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
I donโt follow your logic. God is the Author of Life. How could life in the womb exists if not by the will of God? How is abortion anything other than telling God โYou made a mistake by creating this life within me?โ Look at these three statements in the original post: โOur Creator endowed us with life and liberty but it is his mercy and Grace that sustains me today,โ โBy the Grace of God, I was not pregnant,โ and โIf we lived in the perfect world where every pregnancy was a blessing.โ Our creator did endowed us with life, it is by His will one becomes pregnant and every pregnancy is a blessing because it is from His will. Our Fatherโs Plan cannot be to murder innocent life.
May '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Mel Foil
Ditto. Akin's heart is probably in the right place. If so, he's not very deft at expressing it in all the important ways, but he's probably a decent guy. I'm not very good at covering all my bases either. But I'm not running for anything. Akin's other problem is the poor quality of his homework. If you want to be just one of one-hundred US Senators, you need to study a little harder than he studies. And if you haven't studied the issue carefully, just shut up. The reason he should drop out is, he's too stupid to know that he's not salvageable as a candidate. The fact that he's staying proves that he shouldn't stay. ยท 2 hours ago
Just ask Akin or Huckabee, Akin is a victim. And he is so self-absorbed he probably wouldn't be able to comprehend Ms. Blackney's horrific story.
Jun '10
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
I guess I have to tell myself the same thing I tell others. If you can't live with the laws that Americans live under, and you can't seem to change them to your own liking, there are other places in the world to live. That's when being a purist gets hard. Too hard.
Apr '12
Re: Akin, Rape, and Sovereignty over Self
Yes, they are both living humans.
But only one of them commited a horrific crime against another person's very self.