Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has a brutal new series of ads running against Republican Representative Todd Akin (of legitimate rape infamy) in Missouri.
One of the ads features a pro-life Republican women who is also a rape survivor, while the second one features a pro-life mother. Both women say that while they chose not to use emergency contraception after being raped, they think that every woman should have the right to make that choice. They urge voters to vote for Claire McCaskill, even though under almost any other circumstances, they would not support her.
Watch here. Diana, a pro-life Republican mom who was raped:
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“I’m a Republican and a pro-life mother and a rape survivor. In the hospital, I was offered emergency contraception. Because of my personal beliefs, I declined. Here’s what else I believe. No woman should be denied that choice. What Todd Akin said is offensive, but what he believes is worse. He would criminalize emergency contraception.” Diana also said that she has never voted for Claire McCaskill, but because of Todd Akin, she will now.
Joanie, a pro-life mom who was raped:
“As a woman of faith, I have to forgive Todd Akin, but as a voter, it’s not something I can forget.”
And Rachel, who was brutally raped in a home invasion:
“For me, taking control started with taking emergency contraception at the hospital. At the worst moment of her life, no woman should be denied that choice. What Todd Akin said was troubling enough. But it’s what he believes that’s worse. His policies would criminalize emergency contraception for women who are raped. That’s what he would do with his vote in the Senate. What will you do with yours this November?”
The stories of these three women should serve as a warning to Republicans, including Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who feel its their business to tell a rape survivor what medicine she can have access to and whether or not she should have to carry the child of a rapist. Paul Ryan recently referred to rape as a “method of conception.”
Even pro-life Republicans think that other rape survivors should have the choice.
Because of Todd Akin’s incredibly offensive comments that women can’t get pregnant from a “legitimate rape”, these brave women have come forward to publicly tell their very private stories.
It’s odd that these Republican men don’t bother listening to their constituents and somehow feel that they are entitled to make laws to come between a woman and her doctor, and come between a woman’s family and her doctor. Rape is hardly an anomaly — it’s a common occurrence and most people know someone personally who is a rape survivor.
When a pro-life Republican mom who is a rape survivor says she thinks other women should have this choice, it would behoove Republicans to listen.
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