Ryan on abortion exceptions: Rape is just another ‘method of conception’

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says that he personally believes that rape is just another “method of conception” and not an excuse to allow abortions.

During an interview with WJHL this week, Ryan was asked his view about Rep. Todd Akin, who recently asserted that women could not get pregnant from “legitimate rape.”

“Specifically where you stand when it comes to rape, and when it comes to the issue of should it be legal for a woman to be able to get an abortion if she’s raped?” WJHL reporter Josh Smith wondered.

“I’m very proud of my pro-life record, and I’ve always adopted the idea that, the position that the method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life,” Ryan explained. “But let’s remember, I’m joining the Romney-Ryan ticket. And the president makes policy.”

“And the president, in this case the future President Mitt Romney, has exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, which is a vast improvement of where we are right now.”

MSNBC’s Steve Benen noted that responses like this were probably the reason that Romney is refusing to take any questions about Akin or abortion.

“In this case, when Ryan says ‘the method of conception’ is irrelevant, he’s talking about rape,” Benen wrote. “In other words, the Republicans’ vice presidential nominee clearly believes the government should force women to take their pregnancy to term if they are impregnated by a rapist.”

“Republicans can only distance themselves so much from Todd Akin before we realize they share his views.”

Source

[^_^ 5,021]

Two points.

1. Yes, he is joining the Rmoney ticket. But that means in a Rmoney admin if Rmoney were to die Ryan becomes President. His noxious views on this are therefore very relevant, his own attempt to downplay them notwithstanding.

2. Ryan is right that if one were to take a non-nuanced and absolutist view of life, then all life must be equal. This is why one must never trust anyone who doesn't do nuance.

[rocks 494]

What about the life of the child? What if the fetus doesn't develop properly before 16 weeks and would not survive to full term? The mother should carry it to full term anyway? Or does that fall under the health of the mother? No one ever addresses this issue.

[^_^ 5,021]

What about the life of the child? What if the fetus doesn't develop properly before 16 weeks and would not survive to full term? The mother should carry it to full term anyway? Or does that fall under the health of the mother? No one ever addresses this issue.

You are going to die one day too so we should just kill you now, right?

[rocks 494]

You are going to die one day too so we should just kill you now, right?

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says that he personally believes that rape is just another "method of conception" and not an excuse to allow abortions.

During an interview with WJHL this week, Ryan was asked his view about Rep. Todd Akin, who recently asserted that women could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape."

"Specifically where you stand when it comes to rape, and when it comes to the issue of should it be legal for a woman to be able to get an abortion if she's raped?" WJHL reporter Josh Smith wondered.

"I'm very proud of my pro-life record, and I've always adopted the idea that, the position that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life," Ryan explained. "But let's remember, I'm joining the Romney-Ryan ticket. And the president makes policy."

"And the president, in this case the future President Mitt Romney, has exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, which is a vast improvement of where we are right now."

MSNBC's Steve Benen noted that responses like this were probably the reason that Romney is refusing to take any questions about Akin or abortion.

"In this case, when Ryan says 'the method of conception' is irrelevant, he's talking about rape," Benen wrote. "In other words, the Republicans' vice presidential nominee clearly believes the government should force women to take their pregnancy to term if they are impregnated by a rapist."

Source

How about we just let people make their own decisions about abortion. Abortion is wrong to me but I am a 50 year old male. If I was a scared 19 year old female I might feel different. Benson is making it sound as if Ryan is condoing rape, which he clearly is not.

The bottom line is this. president have very little control of abortion policy in the US. Directly.. So why do we keep making it a main campaign issue.. Maybe to keep us from talking about the real issues.

[rocks 494]

How about we just let people make their own decisions about abortion. Abortion is wrong to me but I am a 50 year old male. If I was a scared 19 year old female I might feel different. Benson is making it sound as if Ryan is condoing rape, which he clearly is not.

The bottom line is this. president have very little control of abortion policy in the US. Directly.. So why do we keep making it a main campaign issue.. Maybe to keep us from talking about the real issues.

I totally agree, it is a waste of time and money. It is hypocritical of the GOP to complain about government spending and then spend all their time trying to push this agenda. They made us vote on it here, meanwhile the DMV is still in a double wide. Cmon.

Edit: Library is still in a double wide too.

Edited August 25, 2012 by rocks

[^_^ 5,021]

Herschel,

We are one - maybe two - justices away from Roe v Wade being overturned.

The issue does matter.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

How about we just let people make their own decisions about abortion. Abortion is wrong to me but I am a 50 year old male. If I was a scared 19 year old female I might feel different. Benson is making it sound as if Ryan is condoing rape, which he clearly is not.

The bottom line is this. president have very little control of abortion policy in the US. Directly.. So why do we keep making it a main campaign issue.. Maybe to keep us from talking about the real issues.

It's the only real issue Republicans have addressed over the last couple of years at the state and national level. They passed zero jobs bills but dozens of bills limiting reproductive rights. Seems important enough to the Republicans on the legislative front so why not talk about it during the election season? If reproductive rights and women's health issues weren't the real issues, then Republicans would perhaps deal with the real issues legislatively. They don't. Let them explain why? And let them explain how rape is just another method of conception and how raped women who get pregnant from a rape are actually blessed. Let them explain that in detail.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Mr. Big Dog

[Penny Lane 8,159]

How about we just let people make their own decisions about abortion. Abortion is wrong to me but I am a 50 year old male. If I was a scared 19 year old female I might feel different. Benson is making it sound as if Ryan is condoing rape, which he clearly is not.

The bottom line is this. president have very little control of abortion policy in the US. Directly.. So why do we keep making it a main campaign issue.. Maybe to keep us from talking about the real issues.

That's all I, and many women, want. The ability to make our own decisions without the government telling us what we can or can't do.

I don't think it sounds like Ryan is condoning rape. I think calling it a "method of conception" is offensive. It's a tragic, life altering event.

Women's health and their reproductive rights are real issues. One of many.

[rocks 494]

When the bill passed in April, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant heralded it as “the first step” to making Mississippi the first abortion-free state. Bryant accused the bill’s Democratic opponents of having one goal: “to abort children.”

“Their one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb,” Bryant told conservative radio host Tony Perkins in April.

Following the court’s restraining order Sunday night, Byrant’s spokesman Mick Bullock said the governor was “disappointed” but will work to “ensure this legislation properly takes effect as soon as possible.”

Mississippi already has one of the lowest abortion rates in the country, with a mere 0.2 percent of all the abortions given in the United States in 2008 taking place in Mississippi, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual health research group.

We voted NO to the "personhood amendment" in November, then they passed this in April. What a great use of money. Thanks GOP.

[james&olya 1,121]

Two points.

1. Yes, he is joining the Rmoney ticket. But that means in a Rmoney admin if Rmoney were to die Ryan becomes President. His noxious views on this are therefore very relevant, his own attempt to downplay them notwithstanding.

2. Ryan is right that if one were to take a non-nuanced and absolutist view of life, then all life must be equal. This is why one must never trust anyone who doesn't do nuance.

In addition, Romney seems to have no core. He has very little in the way of principles except perhaps a devotion to his money and how to hang on to every cent that he can. Ryan, on the other hand does seem to have principles. While I disagree with many of them, at least you know where he stands. So at the top you have Romneys weak and very 'flexible' (etch-a-sketchable) views on abortion added to Ryans much stronger and long-held views. It seems to me that added together Ryans views may hold sway.

[james&olya 1,121]

You are going to die one day too so we should just kill you now, right?

In the real world of medical care there are some truly tragic and gruesome things that occur to fetuses during development. The government has NO business trying to interject itself into all the heart-wrenching decisions that face mothers, fathers, and their doctors!

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Herschel,

We are one - maybe two - justices away from Roe v Wade being overturned.

The issue does matter.

Maybe but to be honest of the issues affecting this country Legal abortion is not in the top 10. Heck not even the top 50. As I said i support a woman's right to choose, but it should not be the defining issue on either side.

Abortion will not matter if our Constitution continues to be trampled, our personal liberties taken, and we continue to make the Middle class a slave for the entitlement class that keeps voting for these idiots.