Page 2 - Rape Exceptions News Today

>> others are talking about it. anyway, thank you. >> thats very kind. >> congratulations, senator klobuchar of minnesota. a great state which i know a bit about. thank you. lets go now to amy sullivan of "the new republic." amy, in your column in these -- about these two men, you wrote about mourdock and akin. you said they lost because they each made the mistake of trying to explain an increasingly common position by republican office holders, including paul ryan. its not unusual for gop pol...

Each made the mistake of trying to explain an increasingly common position by republican office holders, including paul ryan. its not unusual for gop politicians to oppose rape exceptions, but they havent had to defend that, at least not on a big stage. when forced to explain themselves, its not their words that alienate voters, but the idea of forcing women to carry to term a pregnancy that began in rape. as long as opposition to rape exceptions remains a mainstream exception, the gop abortion ...

You wrote about-mile-an-hour you can do and akin. you said they lost because they each made the mistake of trying to explain an increasingly common position by republican office holders including paul ryan. its not unusual for gop politicians to oppose rape exceptions but they havent had to defend that at least not on a big stage. when forced to explain themselves its not their words that alienate voters about you the idea of forcing women to carry to term a pregnancy that began in rape. as long...

Issues, governor romney on all of these fronts disagrees. he wants to dep fund planned parenthood and overturn roe v. wade. i think this is a profound mistake. >> this is why its so serious. roe versus wade hangs in the balance. joining me is irin carmon and laura bass set who covers womens issues for t"the huffington post". irin, let me start with you. do you think this presents a serious challenge to mitt romney appearing to look moderate on the issue of abortion? >> its incredible because the...

This was even better. his answer on the republican party having a platform on abortion that is the same as todd akins platform on abortion. no exceptions for rape and incest, watch. >> our platform is just a simple set of principals, theres no additional language. so to talk about exceptions or whatever is just not found in the platform. >> our platform not having rape exceptions in it doesnt mean there are no rape exceptions in it -- i know we say were banning abortions and theres no exceptions...

>> and mitt romney has had a lot of different positions on abortion, but either way, they have very absolutist positions, and they come down to one thing, which is to say, i mean, we all -- as ana marie mentioned, rape exceptions, in practice, involve rape victims having to go before a system and prove that what happened to them was bad enough that they should be allowed to not be pregnant anymore. were talking about, i think its actually great that they are so absolutist, because we can honestl...

Mitt romney and paul ryan tried to distance themselves from the akin remark, but the fact is theyre in lockstep with akin on the major womens health issues of our irin carmon, they are in lockstep with ryan on abortion. >> and mitt romney has had a lot of different positions on abortion, but either way, they have very absolutist positions, and they come down to one thing, which is to say, i mean, we all -- as ana marie mentioned, rape exceptions, in practice, involve rape victims having to go be...

That their own bodies have betrayed them, that their bodies are telling the world they were not assaulted when in fact they were. simply because they were unfortunate enough to get pregnant as a result of the rape. so what weve got is not only a war on women by refusing to allow rape exceptions to restrictions on abortion, we also have a really demeaning and damaging war on women by offering up this junk science justification for harming womens health care. its just absolutely outrageous. >> doe...

Was not raped because a woman who is legitimately or forcibly or really raped cant get pregnant. this is the justification for the policy. the policy itself is outrageous and damaging. the justification actually retrauma tis an victims of sexual assault who are now being told that their own bodies have betrayed them, that their bodies are telling the world that they were not assaulted when, in fact, they were. simply because they were unfortunate enough to get pregnant as a result of the rape. s...

Told that their own bodies have betrayed them, that their bodies are telling the world that they were not assaulted when, in fact, they were. simply because they were unfortunate enough to get pregnant as a result of the rape. so what weve got is not only a war on women by refusing to allow rape exceptions to restrictions on abortion, we also have a really demeaning and damaging war on women by offering up this junk science justification for harming womens health care. its just absolutely outrag...