The problem is that in making this exception in reaction to the Akin interview, the Republicans have no muddied their previously straight-forward position that embryos have the same legal right as human adults. Based on the chatter we are now hearing from Republicans, that is not always the case–apparently (according to some Republicans)it should not be the case where a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape.

I’m not convinced that the Republican reaction is well thought out. I suspect that they are pummeling Akin to try to make it look like they are sensitive to women’s needs. It will now be interesting to see what they do about the Republican Platform proposal to ban all abortion, no exceptions. That Platform has the same meaning as Akin’s recent comment.

I just spotted this article, which makes many of the same points I’ve made in this comment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/todd-akin-gop-platform-rape_n_1818532.html

Draft language for the 2012 Republican Party platform includes support for a constitutional ban on abortion without specifying exclusions in the cases of rape or incest, according to CNN.

As I was saying in the above article, Akin’s position is nothing unusual. The entire GOP believes that the government should require women who become pregnant through rape to carry the babies of their rapists.

This would be bad enough except for the fact that most members of the GOP (and most human beings), upon learning that their daughters or wives had been impregnated by a rapist, would quietly sneak off and take care of the problem. But in the meantime, the government knows best with regard to all those other women out there.