Pregnancy from rape ‘an opportunity’ to cure cancer, says Republican
Like a deranged game of limbo, Republicans seem to be in competition to see just how low they can go. A couple of weeks ago a Republican in Tennessee was lecturing homeless people on how they should look at Hitler (who spent some time living on the streets) as an inspiration. This week, a Republican in Ohio is both-sidesing rape. On the one hand, Ohio state representative Jean Schmidt mused during an Ohio house government oversight committee meeting on Wednesday, rape is bad. On the other hand, you’ve also got to find the silver linings.
“Rape is a difficult issue,” Schmidt said. “But if a baby is created, it is a human life and whether that mother ends that pregnancy or not the scars will not go away, period. It is a shame that it happens, but there’s an opportunity for that woman – no matter how young or old she is – to make a determination about what she’s going to do to help that life be a productive human being … That child can grow up and be something magnificent, a wonderful family person, cure cancer, etc.”
As you will have gathered, Schmidt’s remarks on rape were delivered during a debate on abortion. Republicans in Ohio are trying to pass a “trigger ban” that would immediately criminalize abortion in the state, without any exemptions for rape or incest, if Roe v Wade is overturned by the supreme court. Because Republicans are extremely pro-life, as they love to remind us, the ban kindly makes an exemption for abortion in cases where it might save the life of the pregnant person. But you’ve got to get two doctors who aren’t professionally related to sign off on it first–which, of course, will be very easy to do when you’re in the middle of a medical emergency.
You know where there’s absolutely no exemption? Abortion in cases where a child is raped. Schmidt’s remarks were delivered in reply to a Democratic colleague had specifically asked her if her bill would force a 13-year-old girl who is raped to have the baby. It’s this very specific scenario that Schmidt chose to present as an “opportunity”. This, let us remember, is a representative from a party which likes to present itself as a champion of “family values” and postures nonstop about protecting children from abuse.
The Republican party is also the party with the idea that the left is intent on indoctrinating and brainwashing schoolkids with wacky ideas like “racism and sexism are bad”. Which is strange because, for a party that doesn’t want kids to be brainwashed, it sure loves to do a bit of a brainwashing itself. Back in 2010 when Schmidt was a congresswoman, she took it upon herself to lecture a group of elementary school students – some of whom were as young as six – about how abortion involves killing a child before its born and is wrong. That’s not brainwashing, folks, that’s religion!
I’m not sure it’s really helpful to call the Republican party a “party” any more. That suggests that its ideas operate within a respectable and reasonable arena. Which, let’s be very clear, they don’t. The Republican party is becoming a full-blown extremist organisation: one that is intent on rolling back every single right that women and minorities have fought to achieve. And if you think calling Republicans “extremist” is, well, extreme, please tell me how else you’d like to describe a party that seem to think it is righteous and good to force a child to carry to term and give birth to a baby conceived by rape – and then, just to add insult to injury – want to ensure that there is no governmental support when it comes to raising that baby? What makes things worse is that these people aren’t just morally bankrupt hypocrites they’re dangerously effective hypocrites. They’re bad at moral consistency but they’re very good at consolidating power.
Prehistoric women were hunters and artists as well as mothers
Could the prehistoric woman have it all? She certainly tried to, according to a new book about the women in prehistory. Rather than there being a strict gendered division of labour, the book argues that the stone age was actually rather advanced with “cooperation between all members of the group, regardless of their gender or age.”
Trump enthusiastically supports candidate accused of sexual assault
Birds of a feather flock together!
Samsung ad featuring woman running alone at 2am criticized as ‘naive’
The advert comes after the death of 23-year-old Ashling Murphy, who was attacked while out running along a canal in Ireland, earlier this year. She wasn’t running at 2am (when very few women would feel safe running as anyone with a brain ought to realize) but in the afternoon.
US women of color increasingly seeking alternatives to hospital births
Births carried out at home or in community birthing centers increased by 20% from 2019 to 2020 according to a new study with non-white communities driving the rise. The increase for Black, non-Hispanic women was 30%, followed by 26% among Native Americans, 24% for Hispanic women and 18% for both Asian and white women.
Things that shouldn’t need to be said: it’s not OK to watch porn at work
Someone tell that to British politicians please.
Girls shun physics A-level as they dislike ‘hard maths’, says UK social mobility head
Addressing a science and technology committee inquiry on diversity and inclusion Katharine Birbalsingh said “physics isn’t something that girls tend to fancy. They don’t want to do it, they don’t like it.” She added: “The research generally … just says that’s a natural thing. I don’t think there’s anything external.” The mind boggles.
Indonesia fights violence against women with new law
It’s taken almost a decade to do, but earlier this month Indonesian lawmakers passed a bill targeting sexual violence. The law expands the definition of rape to include rape between a married couple and acknowledges nine variations of sexual violence, including online sexual violence.
The week in pawtriarchy
A new study has discovered what every pet owner may already suspect: your dog’s personality may have little to do with its breed and popular stereotypes about dog breeds are not supported by science. Researchers couldn’t find, for example, a genetic basis for aggressive behaviors nor a link to specific breeds. It turns out “there is a huge amount of behavioral variation in every breed, and at the end of the day, every dog really is an individual”. There’s a lesson for humans there somewhere.
Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for order
