Santorum: A New, Disgusting Low

Would that he could be unwillingly impregnated.

There aren't enough words to describe this man.

He just keeps outdoing himself in some sort of horrid competition of his own making. It's as though he's hell bound and determined to offend everyone he can think of.

Asking a sexually assaulted woman to accept her rape as a gift from upon high because it results in a pregnancy is the territory of the insane.

Ricky is completely cuckoo for cocoa puffs.

I didn't take it to mean the rape was a gift from God, but rather, the resulting life was.

scarletpeaches said:

I didn't take it to mean the rape was a gift from God, but rather, the resulting life was.

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It's still pretty thrown off of him. Asking an already traumatized woman to accept the child resulting from the attack as a gift is quite ridiculous.

There are women who can do that. But I don't fault any woman who can't handle or accept it.

If there's a God, I kind of doubt he's passing out presents via rapists.

Seriously. The God Santorum imagines is one f'd up dude.

If what Santorum is doing isn't taking the Lord's name in vain, I don't know what would qualify.

Santorum's stance is hardly new, though. It's just that more people are becoming aware of it.

rugcat said:

Santorum's stance is hardly new, though. It's just that more people are becoming aware of it.

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The only thing "good" I can say about the pro-life/rape position is at least it's internally consistent. If an egg fertilized via consensual sex is "life" I can't think of what makes an egg fertilized by rape not "life" also.

As for me whether or not that egg is "life" is moot: I'm not of the popular opinion that life is particularly precious but rather believe it's the pernicious state of this entire planet, and will continue to be whether we have abortions or not.

But I'm a left wing, pro-choice extremist so my opinions on this matter are highly suspect and ridiculously biased.

What really kills me about Santorum, Palin, et all is that they practically dislocate their shoulders patting themselves on the back for their "choice" while declaring everyone else should be denied anything of the sort.

Kitty27 said:

Asking a sexually assaulted woman to accept her rape as a gift from upon high because it results in a pregnancy is the territory of the insane.

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I'll put up right away that I'm pro-choice, and this situation is all kinds of horrid, but I don't think the child that's a result of rape has any blame, and I get that sense from some of the responses here. I just picked out yours because I saw it, and certainly do not want to single you out.

For those rape victims that do get impregnated, and who do keep the child for whatever reason, I'd say that the child has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilt about, and abortion out of a sense that the child is a "devil spawn" sounds pretty terrible to me. Abortion for other reasons, hell yes, but not because the child is somehow evil due to circumstances at conception.

It's not about the child being "devil spawn."

Pregnancy is a long, difficult process that doesn't let up.

I remember waking in the middle of the night with cramps that would bring tears to my eyes. Or because I had to pee for the third time that night. Or because I was worried about this or that associated with the pregnancy. Then, because my belly was huge and my nerves were pinched and I hurt, it was impossible to get comfortable and back to sleep quickly. Then I would wake--starving. But I couldn't eat just anything, oh no, because pregnancy causes not only cravings, but also queasiness and...

it goes on and on and on and on. A woman does not forget that she's pregnant. For nine months, it is all-consuming. Then, when the baby arrives, guess what? Motherhood is ALSO difficult and all-consuming. One does not forget she has a newborn--not even for a moment.

Personally, I wanted to be pregnant. I was thrilled to be pregnant. I can even say that, on some levels, I enjoyed it. But I be damned if I'm going through all that again. A woman who is happy to be pregnant has a constant joy...

But a woman who was raped? For her, every pain of pregnancy can be felt as another pain visited upon her by her attacker. Every time she wakes up in the middle of the night with cramps that bring tears to her eyes, she can be reminded of her rape. Every time she thinks about how her life has to be re-arranged, how much money this is going to cost, what this is doing to her body, her nerves, her emotions...she knows why this is happening. Because she was raped.

A woman who can put all that aside and choose to go through all the pains, changes, and life-altering consequences of a pregnancy either without constantly thinking of her attacker or despite doing so is nothing less than a saint. But in no way would I require it of every woman who ever became pregnant through rape.

Hell no.

So let me get this straight. We have a thread about...

A. Rape.
B. Abortion.
C. Religious extremism.

... all at the same time? Yeah, so sitting this one out.

Kitty27 said:

It's still pretty thrown off of him. Asking an already traumatized woman to accept the child resulting from the attack as a gift is quite ridiculous.

There are women who can do that. But I don't fault any woman who can't handle or accept it.

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Also: I was sexually assaulted as a teenager, was not given emergency contraception, and did not have health insurance that covered prenatal care, pregnancy, or neonatal care. I would have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the "gift" my rapists left me. And yes, I obsessed about it for months until I was absolutely certain I wasn't pregnant.

Well, at least he is consistent.

vsrenard said:

Well, at least he is consistent.

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don't look for many to adopt the "i have the consistency of santorum" position.

Lhipenwhe said:

I can't express my utter disgust at what he just said; I might be reading too much into this, but he's essentially said that women should accept their rape because the baby is a gift from God.

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It's a terrible paragraph, but I don't see that meaning in it. It seems to me to be TRYING to be about the baby.

It's hard to tell, but I *think* I agree with him.

My take is very simple. Three things.

1. A baby is always a miracle.
2. A baby is not responsible in any way whatsoever for the act that created it.
3. It's not *just* a grouping of cells. I HATE that characterization.

I'm in no place to judge the decision a woman makes, but I cannot stand the (to me) efforts to minimize the tragedy here. Abortion is a tragedy, even if we accept Reason A, B, C, or Omega for having one.

Yes, scientifically, it's a zygote, or a fetus, or any of the terms scientists use to discuss the process of becoming. But this isn't just a scientific discussion.

robjvargas said:

A baby is always a miracle.

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Why?

robjvargas said:

I
I'm in no place to judge the decision a woman makes, but I cannot stand the (to me) efforts to minimize the tragedy here. Abortion is a tragedy, even if we accept Reason A, B, C, or Omega for having one.

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The real tragedy is the fact that a woman has to make the decision at all.

robjvargas said:

I'm in no place to judge the decision a woman makes,

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Then you're not in agreement with Santorum, because his point is not that abortion is a tragedy (something I, too, would agree with) but that a woman should not have the option of abortion, even if she is pregnant through the violent act of rape.

Eh, for me, children aren't miracles. They're children. You fuck, you get pregnant, you have a baby. There's no miracle there.

I really hate it when people try to shame others into decisions they make about their bodies by using terms like "miracle", "god's gift", etc...

Now, I don't think he's saying women should accept their rape. He's just telling them to accept the baby, which, as a man who's probably never been raped, he should stfu. If he ever gets raped and, by some strange chain of events, becomes pregnant, then maybe he can start spouting off about miracles and acceptance.

I don't see abortion as a tragedy. For me, the true tragedy is an unwanted child or worse, a child who's mother wants nothing to do with her/him because she knows how she/he was conceived but refuses to tell them.

robjvargas said:

I'm in no place to judge the decision a woman makes, but I cannot stand the (to me) efforts to minimize the tragedy here. Abortion is a tragedy, even if we accept Reason A, B, C, or Omega for having one.

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Why is abortion of a fetus more tragic than rape and an unwanted pregnancy that results from that rape and could perpetuate the psychological/emotional trauma from that on the woman? That's what's being recognized here. It's not underplaying of abortion. It's recognition of just how serious rape and unwanted pregnancies resulting from them can be. Let's not idealize potential people at the expense of protecting the rights of existing people and citizens. My opinion, of course.

Ah, so rape isn't a gift...the baby born from rape that is a constant, life-long reminder of being raped is a "gift."

So, the baby is basically a chocolate the rapist leaves on the woman's pillow.

Gotcha.

Yeah, not insulting at all.

Opty said:

Ah, so rape isn't a gift...the baby born from rape that is a constant, life-long reminder of being raped is a "gift."

So, the baby is basically a chocolate the rapist leaves on the woman's pillow.

Gotcha.

Yeah, not insulting at all.

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Close. The baby is basically the chocolate God leaves on the woman's pillow as a consolation prize, I think. Then again, my theory is Santorum is what happens when an Internet troll runs for office.

William Haskins said:

don't look for many to adopt the "i have the consistency of santorum" position.

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It would make an interesting slogan.

Mharvey said:

Close. The baby is basically the chocolate God leaves on the woman's pillow as a consolation prize, I think. Then again, my theory is Santorum is what happens when an Internet troll runs for office.

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I don't think it's too far of a stretch to say than Santorum is probably one of those people who think women are just ever so happy and content when they're taking care of babies. Once we get pregnant, our lives are complete, regardless of who the father is

Maxinquaye said:

I'll put up right away that I'm pro-choice, and this situation is all kinds of horrid, but I don't think the child that's a result of rape has any blame, and I get that sense from some of the responses here. I just picked out yours because I saw it, and certainly do not want to single you out.

For those rape victims that do get impregnated, and who do keep the child for whatever reason, I'd say that the child has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of or feel guilt about, and abortion out of a sense that the child is a "devil spawn" sounds pretty terrible to me. Abortion for other reasons, hell yes, but not because the child is somehow evil due to circumstances at conception.

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It's not that the child is evil. Is that some woman who are raped do not want to give birth to that child. They just don't. Some do. They can if they want to.