Toobin on Akin, Rape, and Abortion Rights

Lindsay Beyerstein

Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker makes an excellent point about the controversy surrounding Todd Akin, rape, and abortion. In our zeal to mock Akin, we’re reframing the abortion debate in terms of rape.

The fact is, most women who get abortions got pregnant through consensual sex. Toobin notes that, out of over 1 million abortions performed in the U.S. each year, only about 10,00015,000 these are from pregnancies that arose from reported rapes:

What these numbers mean is that the vast majority of women who have abortions did not become pregnant because of rape. But the political debate is not about that majority. Indeed, the focus on rape victims creates a malevolent dynamic. Abortion becomes something that women can only earn by hardship, rather than something they can freely choose.

It’s fun to ridicule Akin for his extreme and scientifically unfounded views on abortion, and the Missouri Republican deserves all the opprobrium he gets, but let’s not lose sight of the larger issue, which is women’s right to bodily integrity and self-determination.

Please consider supporting our work.

I hope you found this article important. Before you leave, I want to ask you to consider supporting our work with a donation. In These Times needs readers like you to help sustain our mission. We don’t depend on—or want—corporate advertising or deep-pocketed billionaires to fund our journalism. We’re supported by you, the reader, so we can focus on covering the issues that matter most to the progressive movement without fear or compromise.

Our work isn’t hidden behind a paywall because of people like you who support our journalism. We want to keep it that way. If you value the work we do and the movements we cover, please consider donating to In These Times.

Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://​www​.hill​man​foun​da​tion​.org/​h​i​l​l​m​a​nblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.
Illustrated cover of Gaza issue. Illustration shows an illustrated representation of Gaza, sohwing crowded buildings surrounded by a wall on three sides. Above the buildings is the sun, with light shining down. Above the sun is a white bird. Text below the city says: All Eyes on Gaza
Get 10 issues for $19.95

Subscribe to the print magazine.