I can’t help it, guys. Todd Akin’s seeming determination to say as many dumb things as possible fascinates me. Moreover, as bizarre as are many of his pronouncements, they actually bear some resemblance to actual things actual normal pro-lifers actually say in actuality.
Actual.
“Newest” off the ticker is a 2008 speech by Akin claiming that abortion providers frequently perform abortions on non-pregnant women. Technically this doesn’t quite count with regard to the above, as he may have since learned his lesson, but I still think it’s instructive to point out the truth, which this post at XX Factor manages quite handily:
There were some clinics in the ’70s in Chicago exposed for unsafe and deceptive practices, including D&Cs on non-pregnant women, but those clinics were exposed and many closed. The Chicago clinics were an anomaly, and not indicative of how abortion is generally provided.
Of course, this is a mere assertion, but fortunately, common sense comes to our rescue:
In the ’70s, when home pregnancy testing wasn’t readily available, that might have been more plausible, but nowadays most women who call an abortion clinic know for sure that they’re pregnant and have already made up their minds. To believe otherwise is to assume that women, or at least women who get abortions, are too stupid as a class to understand even the most basic things in life.
Actually.