Wishful Thinking About Violence Against Women

REPUBLICAN congressman Steve King of Iowa has contributed his own remarks to the fray over Missouri congressman and senatorial candidate Todd Akin's contention that 'legitimate rape' almost never results in pregnancy. (A video of Rep. Akin's comments appeared on the web on August 19th; he has apologized since then.)

In an August 20th interview with the television station KMEG 14 (a CBS affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa), Rep. King replied to a question about how pregnancy after statutory rape (e.g. consensual sex between an adult man and a twelve-year-old girl) should be treated,

Well I just haven't heard of that being a circumstance that's been brought to me in any personal way and I'd be open to hearing discussion about that subject matter.

He was speaking in the Le Mars and Sioux Center, where he was campaigning, and the video of the news segment which includes his comments is on the television station's website. His spokesperson has since responded,
as cited in Talking Points Memo's article, to the criticism of his remarks:

[Brittany] Lesser said "of course" King is aware that girls have been impregnated by statutory rape or incest, and said King supports people who have not been forcibly raped receiving federal abortion coverage under a rape exemption. "That's a given for anybody who understands pro-life legislation,"

In 1996, TPM pointed out, the Guttmacher Institute reported that "at least half of all babies born to minor women are fathered by adult men." The Guttmacher Institute [Wikipedia article] is a non-profit American reproductive health organization which was founded in 1968 and originally belonged to Parent Parenthood but split away into an own institute in 1977.

Also in 1996, an article in the American Journal of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found that in America around "32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year." (As also mentioned in the relevant TPM article.)

Sometime in the 20th century, Albert Einstein is reputed to have said, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." (Quoted from list by Kevin Harris, ©1995) It remains as valid an observation now as it was then.

"Rep. Steve King: I've Never Heard Of A Girl Getting Pregnant From Statutory Rape Or Incest" [Talking Points Memo], by Evan McMorris-Santoro (August 21, 2012) [Read August 21, 2012]
"Rep. Steve King on the Campaign Trail" [KMEG 14], by Heather Leigh (August 21, 2012) [Read August 21, 2012]
"Rape-related pregnancy: Estimates and descriptive characteristics from a national sample of women: Abstract" [American Journal of Obstetricians and Gynecologists] by Melisa M. Holmes, Heidi S. Resnick, Dean G. Kilpatrick and Connie L. Best (Volume 175, Issue 2 , Pages 320-325, August 1996)
"Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of 'Legitimate Rape' Don't Get Pregnant" [Talking Points Memo], by Evan McMorris-Santoro (August 19, 2012) [Read August 21, 2012]