Rep. Todd Akin and the evolution of a phrase like "legitimate rape."

A statement like the one Rep. Akin made comes from a message the far-right GOP has been trying to communicate for some time without saying out loud for fear of political backlash:

If abortion bans have rape/incest exceptions, all a woman has to do to get an abortion is show up at a clinic and claim rape or incest. The exception is a loophole. Any woman who wants an abortion is a moral failure anyway, so what’s to stop them from using the loophole? Any ban that includes an exception is not a real ban.

The attempt to parse degrees of rape is an attempt to put the burden of proof for rape or incest on the pregnant woman. I point you to the GOP’s 2011 effort to redefine rape: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion Hence all the clumsy verbal dancing in defense of no exception abortion policy.

A deeply held far-right wing disdain for unmarried women who have sex sustains these opinions and efforts. A large portion of the far-right base, both male and female voters, believe women who get raped deserve it and bring it on themselves.