Getting Away With Murder

There once was a Bible character named Achan who thought he could break the rules and get away with it. His crime was taking forbidden plunder after a military victory. His punishment was death for himself and his entire family. Today we have a political character named Akin who violated the taboo of talking about pregnancies that result from rape. His punishment appears to be the death of his political career and banishment from his party.

The Republican National Committee has withdrawn its financial support for Todd Akin's Senate bid. Other major donors are backing away. CBS news reports that the Romney campaign released a statement denouncing Akin's position saying: "Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape." I am sorry to hear that. There can be no logical defense for killing an innocent victim of a violent act.

I am not unsympathetic to the emotional plight of a rape victim who discovers that a terrifying moment in her life produced a child. But I am also concerned with the life of the child that some people seem so willing to murder. This is a classical example of the slippery slope. If it is acceptable to kill children conceived in rape, why not children conceived in drunken sex? Why not allow a woman to murder her baby because she realizes that the father doesn't really love her as he claimed when he seduced her? Why not abort pregnancies that result from failed contraception? Why not kill any baby for any reason the mother can muster?

Once you allow that certain humans are disposable, you have crossed a line that should not be crossed. If inconvenient fetuses can be killed, so can inconvenient children or elderly or disabled persons. It is not enough to say that the emotional trauma resulting from a rape warrants death for her unborn child. There is serious emotional trauma when parents discover that their child has a debilitating disease or birth defect. There is real anguish when a husband watches his wife slip into final stages of Alzheimer's. Families can be crushed mentally and financially when an injured loved one lies in a coma for years on end. Yet none of these situations merits murder.

If we believe that life begins at conception, then every conception must be allowed to proceed to its destined conclusion. I don't know what doctor led Todd Akin to believe that a woman's body could prevent a pregnancy if she was raped. If he truly believed that when he made his fateful statement earlier this week, he can be excused for his misunderstanding. After that, he should be applauded for his clarifying remarks in which he stood firm on his belief that pregnancies resulting from rape should not be terminated.

If anyone should be ashamed in this it is the Romney-Ryan campaign for bowing to pressure from ill-advised proponents of abortion in the case of rape. Such proponents often try to justify their position by pointing to the small number of rape induced pregnancies. Statistics are hard to come by, but some estimates suggest about 32,000 rapes occur each year with 5% or 1600 resulting in pregnancies. I cannot imagine another scenario where it would be deemed appropriate to kill 1600 people per year. I am truly sorry, horrified even that evil men perpetrate this kind of tragedy against women. But I am just as horrified that decent men are willing to multiply the tragedy by committing another indecent act against a child. If I lived in Missouri, I would vote for Todd Akin. I hope the good people who do live there will too.