From: Nita and Shaunna, Ultraviolet

Dear Readers,

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) is on the defensive after he made comments stating that women who are “legitimate” rape victims can’t get pregnant. Prominent conservatives from Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) to talking-head Sean Hannity are begging him to drop out of his race for US Senate.1

Here’s the thing: Their outrage is disingenuous at best. Why? Because Rep. Akin’s views are anything but fringe when it comes to Tea Party members of Congress. He, Paul Ryan and 171 mostly Republican members of the House sponsored a bill last year that would have narrowed the definition of rape to make it even harder for survivors–especially lower income rape survivors–to get abortions.2 They felt the need to define rape as “forcible” rape–sound familiar? Akin and 63 others allies in Congress co-sponsored a bill that would have made emergency contraception and common forms of birth control illegal.3

Now, conservatives in Congress are falling over themselves to condemn Akin hoping their statements will stop the media from focusing on the fact that lots of them hold many of the same views.

We can’t let that happen. We need to make sure that voters everywhere know how widespread the “Akin problem” is. So we’re planning a big effort–partnering with local groups on the ground in these districts, organizing survivors to tell their stories and running ads online and on the radio–to get the word out about how many members of Congress have partnered with Akin to roll back women’s reproductive rights. But we need your help to do it. This will cost us at least $25,000 to pull off. Can you chip in $25?

Attempts to “redefine” rape aren’t new to Congress. And the consequences of doing so are far more severe than simply making abortion harder to access–they have a significant cultural effect too. Too many legislators are willing to go so far as to place even greater burdens and cast doubt on rape survivors just to advance their agenda of taking away women’s rights to control our own bodies.

In fact, changing the definition of rape has been a key talking point for extremist anti-choice conservatives for years. John C. Willke, former president of the National Right to Life Committee, has argued pregnancy from rape is rare in part because “when women are actually raped, the trauma upsets their endocrine system in a way that prevents pregnancy.”4

And a lot of current members of Congress hold equally extreme views and have actively tried to force rape survivors to take their pregnancy to term, deny survivors access to emergency contraception and even criminalize some forms of birth control–like IUDs. This year’s Republican Party Platform even calls for a federal ban on abortion without an exception for rape or incest.5

Conservatives in Congress have been able to advance their right-wing agenda without any scrutiny for years. But this year, they’ve taken their efforts to new extremes, so it’s been getting more notice. And we have to keep spotlighting them.

Please chip in to help us spread the word to voters all over the country about how many politicians hold views just as extreme as Rep. Akin’s.

Thanks for speaking out,

–Nita, Shaunna and Kat, the UltraViolet team

Sources:

1. John Cornyn, Top Republicans Call On Todd Akin To Rethink Candidacy, Huffington Post, August 20, 2012

2. The House GOP’s Crusade Against Reproductive Rights, Media Matters, October 6, 2011

3. Paul Ryan and Todd Akin Partnered On Radical ‘Personhood’ Bill Outlawing Abortion And Many Birth Control Pills, ThinkProgress, August 20, 2012

4. Todd Akin’s Rape Comment Was Bad, but His Abortion Views Are Much Worse, Daily Best, August 20, 2012

5. Report: GOP abortion platform doesn’t include rape exception, The Hill, August 21, 2012

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Conservatives want us to think that Rep. Akin is alone in his extremist views but he’s not–lots of current members of Congress have partnered with him in trying to redefine rape and criminalize some forms of birth control.