"Legitimate Rape"
They are passing laws, not to make sure rape victims get justice, but to make sure rape victims give birth.
I am not going to make you wonder what this essay is about — the extremism in the Missouri Republican party. This extremism is laser focused on women and girls. To demonstrate how extreme they have become, I only have to take you back a decade.
Remember: Missouri is a testing ground for the rest of America. What they have done to us, is meant for you too.
Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City
Do you remember Todd Akin? He was the Missouri Republican who won the nomination for US Senate, but was beaten soundly by Claire McCaskill in 2012. Do you remember why the race was tilted toward Claire during the last few weeks of the campaign?
During an interview in 2012 at a St. Louis television station, Todd Akin was asked by reporter Charles Jaco whether abortion should be legal for women who have been raped. Akin replied with this:
“From what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said, referring to pregnancy resulting from rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Akin also said he would prefer that punishment for rape be “focused on the rapist and not attacking the child."
That did it. Those statements sealed the deal for so many voters in Missouri. Akin tried to walk them back and apologized. He even said he misspoke. It didn’t matter to Missouri voters — he paid for those comments by losing the race and becoming a sort of meme for extremism.
That was 2012. Today, those statements likely wouldn’t lose a race or even raise many eyebrows in the GOP, especially not in Missouri. We have become nearly numb to the constant barrage of inaccurate, insensitive, and invasive line of comments and laws against women in this state.
Let me show you a few things that Missouri Republican lawmakers have stated publicly that have netted exactly zero response from the party.
The horrifying reality for Missouri victims of sexual assault? Senate Republicans blocked attempts to add rape and incest exemptions to Missouri’s abortion ban. Amendments to legalize abortion in cases of rape or incest, added by Missouri Senate Democrats, were voted down by Missouri GOP lawmakers in February, 2024.
In statements about their refusal to allow exemptions, the comments I’ll provide show that not only have GOP lawmakers become heartless in their focus on punishing victims, the statements also prove that GOP lawmakers are not scared to say the things that would have had them voted out of office just a decade ago.
Senator Rick Brattin, (R) Harrisonville, explained his vote against adding rape and incest exemptions to the Missouri abortion ban. He argued that being forced to carry their rapist’s baby could be “healing” for rape and incest victims.
“If you want to go after the rapist, let’s give him the death penalty. Absolutely, let’s do it,” Brattin said. “But not the innocent person caught in-between that, by God’s grace, may even be the greatest healing agent you need in which to recover from such an atrocity.”
Wait. Forced birth is the greatest healing agent for the trauma of rape? That is a disgusting statement. And, the death penalty for rape? Not only is no one getting the death penalty for rape, but there are so many rapes that aren’t even being prosecuted.
The Kansas City Star reported that Missouri’s backlog of untested sexual assault kits has grown by 380% in the last 5 years. How would anyone get any penalty for rape when rape kits aren’t even processed?
Senator Sandy Crawford, a Buffalo Republican, pushed back on adding exemptions for rape or incest to the Missouri abortion ban saying this:
“While rape would be mentally taxing for anyone, it doesn’t justify an abortion. God is perfect. God does not make mistakes and for some reason he allows that (rape) to happen. Bad things happen.”
First of all, whose god? Second, rape is more than “mentally taxing” and making excuses for rape by saying it’s god’s will is something I hope I never have to read again.
Representative Jeff Farnan, a freshman legislator from Stanberry, said this about abortion exemptions:
“Well, what about rape or incest? I still believe that is a baby. I really feel for these mothers that are going through this situation. I could never imagine what they’re going through. But there are a lot of resources out there for them that they could utilize…they have counseling there, they have adoption options that they can go through.”
Jeff’s attitude toward rape? Sorry if that happens to you ladies, but there’s always adoption. Except, it’s not that easy; adoption can bring its own set of trauma, and there are currently over 14,000 kids in the Missouri foster system. 14,000 kids waiting for a home.
One Missouri State Representative, Hardy Billington of Poplar Bluff, actually used the abortion question to push back on outlawing child marriage…yes, you read that right. He thinks child marriage should be legal. He is quoted as saying:
“My opinion is that if someone (wants to) get married at 17, and they’re going to have a baby and they cannot get married, then…chances of abortion are extremely high,”
That quote sounds super predator-like, and abortion is banned in Missouri — he should remember that because he voted to ban it.
I am at a loss nearly every day. It’s hard to raise daughters in this state. I wonder if it’s even ethical at this point?
Missouri has slowly been pushed to the edge of extremism. We are the frog in the pot. We have been looking around and trying to use reason to say, “this can’t be happening.” We wonder if these lawmakers are just making missteps — just a quote taken out of context or an off the cuff remark that they didn’t mean. Surely they don’t mean the things they say?
No, they do. They mean the things they say. They prove it by the bills they propose and the bills they vote against.
The water is boiling and still some of us sit and ponder. It’s past time to jump, friend. The best thing we can do is speak out about what we see and tell everyone we know what is happening in our state.
One of the most courageous things we can do is to point out what the GOP is saying and doing and be loud about it.
We warn others. We save ourselves by warning the country.
~Jess
I have not seen anyone make the following historical connection, which is quite obvious to me: We know that women and girls get pregnant as a result of being raped. People who enslaved and legally owned other human beings in this country knew this fact. It is how slaveowners created wealth. They regularly raped the women whom they enslaved and whose bodies they owned to produce new humans whose bodies they owned without their having to pay any additional money for that additional enslaved human. If you don't see how race and gender oppression (and capitalism) are intertwined in this country's founding and history and that what we are reaping today is a direct result of that unacknowledged history, look again.
I have four daughters and seven granddaughters and all live in red states, (SC,NC, Ga.)I am a feminist and so are they. One of my granddaughters just became the deputy director of Campaign Communications for EMILY's List. She left the staff of a center-left think tank and took a pay cut to join this incredible organization because she believes in women's right to control their bodies. It'd hard to believe that these troglodytes in the legislature were brought up in a respectful family environment, and then there's the church, probably the second most influential factor in the life of most young people. Of course, cruelty abounds and they probably know less about God's will than my dog (that's god spelled backwards)