Thought Theater

Sen. Brownback: On Managing Mommy's Uterus genre: Hip-Gnosis & Little Red Ribbon-Hood & Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation

Kansas Senator and GOP presidential candidate, Sam Brownback not only opposes a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy, he believes that if a man rapes a woman, she should still not be permitted to have an abortion. I must say I view his position to not only be insensitive, it borders on the absurd.

"Rape is terrible. Rape is awful. Is it made any better by killing an innocent child? Does it solve the problem for the woman that's been raped?" the Kansas Republican asked at the St. Joseph's Covenant Keepers gathering.

"We need to protect innocent life. Period," Brownback said, bringing the crowd of about 500 to its feet.

Brownback also talked about keeping marriage between a man and a woman, saying nations that have allowed same-sex marriages were engaging in bad social experiments, with bad results.

He also encouraged married couples to stay together, saying studies have shown that if couples weather hard times for five years, their marriages tend to last. After five years, "people are happier than those who have had a divorce," Brownback said.

It was not clear what research he was citing.

To demonstrate the absurdity, let me offer an example by way of another story recently in the headlines. Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick, has been under investigation for his potential connection to raising and fighting dogs following a raid on a home he owns in Virginia. News reports describing the items found on the property included a device called a "rape stand"...basically a contraption to subdue a female dog in order to breed her with a male dog of the owners choosing in order to produce the desired offspring.

Vick's alleged involvement in breeding and fighting dogs has the potential to derail the stars football career and it certainly hasn't endeared him to animal rights advocates or football fans...in fact he could be charged with animal cruelty and given a prison sentence.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I equate Senator Brownback's perspective on the rights of a raped woman with that of a dog used by Michael Vick as breeding stock...and it has all the same elements of disregard and cruelty. To presume that a woman impregnated against her will in an act of violence should be required to birth the byproduct of that act is despicable.

In Senator Brownback's world of twisted rationale, I suppose women fearful of pregnancy by rape would be well advised to have themselves sterilized...since the mere fact that they are capable of reproduction places a burden upon them to rear any and all children that result from any and all acts of intercourse.

I wonder if Mr. Brownback would also support the notion that all men have chastity devices placed upon their genitalia in order to protect women from unwanted pregnancy. It only seems reasonable that sperm should be viewed as a weapon and regulated so long as some men use it to impregnate women against their will. Let's go a step further...why not make it a crime for men to masturbate...after all, aren't they destroying the very same sperm that could impregnate any fertile woman...whether she agrees or not?

Frankly, if a woman has no say over her reproductive system, then why should men have standing with regard to theirs? If all life is sacred, then lets prohibit male masturbation and begin the practice of putting men on "rape stands" in order to extract their sperm for women seeking to put their eggs to their proper use...making babies on demand...but let's give them control over men’s reproductive capacities...at least for the next 2000 years or so, OK? That sounds equitable to me.

Comments

1 On June 12, 2007 at 1:28 PM, Jan Bays wrote —

I can't thank you enough for Brownback blog. This is the first time I have read an articulate statement about the horrific double standard of "Right to Lifers." My difficulty here is this is my first time reading this site and I don't know who wrote this.

2 On June 12, 2007 at 2:52 PM, Daniel wrote —

Hi Jan,

Thanks for your comments. I really appreciate the feedback...and the fact that you liked my rationale.

The fact that 500 people gave Brownback a standing ovation for his remarks served as ample inspiration to share my own perspectives on the topic.

Regards,

Daniel

3 On June 12, 2007 at 6:07 PM, suzanne shatto wrote —

this is my first time here also.

perhaps women are figuratively on that rape stand for the pleasure of others.

since we can now clone stuff, does this mean that it should be a capital offense to cut someone's finger?

4 On June 13, 2007 at 5:32 AM, VL wrote —

Wouldn't you know, in the male-dominated world of fight-dog breeding, they'd call it a "rape stand."

Go, doggie, go! 1,2,3,4, bang 'er til 'er pussy's sore!

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