Reprinted courtesy of Discover Magazine's Bad Astronomy column
— by Phil Plait
Unless you've had your head buried in the mantle of the Earth this week, you probably heard what Missouri Congressman Todd Akin said about women's bodies and rape. If you haven't, my friend Matt Lowry at Skeptical Teacher has the lowdown.
First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare... If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.
This is so appallingly ignorant — to be kind — that it makes my brain explode. Pregnancy from rape is not rare; tens of thousands occur every year. His claim about the female body is complete claptrap, nonsense. And his use of the word "legitimate" is just grossly insulting. As President Obama said the next day: "Rape is rape".
So here we have a man who has not just no knowledge of what happens during rape and conception, but actually provably wrong knowledge. And he makes laws about these things.
It's clear that Akin's beliefs are driven by his religious fundamentalism. This would be a matter of concern to me for any lawmaker, but you have to understand: he sits on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee!
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Reprinted courtesy of Discover Magazine's 
