Think Progress went back and took a look at the sermons of Todd Akin’s spiritual mentor, Rev. Dean. James Kennedy. Needless to say, it’s not pretty:
1. Kennedy believed that rape victims who chose abortion are “hysterical.” In “Abortion: Myths and Realities,” Kennedy labels victims of rape who chose unsafe abortions when safer procedures are illegal “hysterical,” saying “We are told by some of the radical feminists that the women will become hysterical, that they will abort themselves with coat hanger.” Abortion rates are, in fact, higher in nations where the procedure is criminalized, and men describing women whose choices they disapprove of as “hysterical” has a storied sexist history.
2. Kennedy suggests rape victims can be responsible for being raped. In “Life: An Inalienable Right,” Kennedy expresses concern that rape victims who chose to get an abortion are occasionally responsible for their own rape, saying that “Even if they want to say the woman had some part in it—which in most cases they probably don’t—surely the baby did nothing wrong, so the only innocent party is killed and the rapist often goes free.” He doesn’t elaborate on how this might be true, but another Kennedy sermon says “the immodest woman is contributing to the lust of other people” by wearing revealing clothing.
Kennedy also thinks that the Bible should dictate women’s health, and that husbands should be allowed to dictate whether or not their wives can get abortions. 14th-century thinking in the 21st century! It is unsurprising that Todd Akin thinks that women’s bodies have some sort of super seekrit baby-b-gone juice in their no-no areas that prevent women from becoming pregnant when they are raped.
[via Think Progress][cross-posted at ABLC]
Todd Akin’s Spiritual Mentor is a Disgusting Misogynist Religious ZealotPost + Comments (33)