Shame On You, Rep. Akin

In light of this, I have just a few things to say about rape and abortion. Let's start with abortion. I am not comfortable with abortion. Nobody should be. It's a serious matter that should be handled between a woman and her health care providers. With discretion, privacy and zero judgement. Every form of birth control has a failure rate and no woman should ever have to endure a pregnancy that is not of her own choosing. Regardless of the circumstances in which she conceived. Which brings us to rape. Several years ago I held a 19 year old girl's hands while she went through a rape examination to collect evidence. The rape kit contained over a dozen vials, swabs, and little envelopes for the preservation of hairs, semen, DNA and any other bits of information her violator may have left behind. While this exam was performed by specially trained medical personnel who were caring and professional, it was a nearly three hour ordeal for this girl. She was scraped and swabbed under her nails and in every bodily orifice. Her own hairs were pulled out by the root from her head as well as her pubic area. I had bruises on my wrists from how tightly she held on to my hands. If she wished to press charges against her assailant at any time in the future, she had to undergo this exam. In the terrified and vulnerable state of mind following the rape she submitted to this second round of violation. I admired her for her courage. She couldn't fight off this miserable guy who outweighed her by at least fifty pounds but she did convince him to put on a condom first. It's horrifying enough to be sexually assaulted. It was brutal but necessary to gather the evidence. At the very least she was free from worrying over the possibility that she may have been pregnant or had contracted an STD. If only we did have the power to do what Rep. Akin thinks we can do. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. If only. It would be a very different world.