The American Spectator

Judge Andrew Napolitano has a thoughtful column in The Washington Times on Todd Akins’ “leigitmate rape” comment. While calling Akins’ remark “absurd,” “bizarre,” “offensive,” and “incorrect,” Napolitano supports the implications of Atkins’ comment that rape is never a moral justification for the taking of an innocent human life through abortion:

…. isn’t a baby in a womb a person? Of course a baby in a womb is a person. A baby is produced by the physical interaction of two human parents, and every unborn baby possesses a fully actualizable human genome: all the material necessary to grow to adulthood and to exist independently outside the womb.

What about rape? Rape is among the more horrific violations of human dignity imaginable. It is a crime committed by the male, not the female — and certainly not by the child it might produce. When rape results in pregnancy, the baby has the same right to life as any child born by mutually loving parents. Only the Nazis would execute a child for the crimes of his or her father.

Every abortion ends the life of an innocent unborn human being. When politicians in both parties claim to be pro-life but favor abortions because of the criminal behavior of the father, as in rape or incest, they are politically rejecting that hard truth. What other violations of the natural law will they condone for political expedience?

It’s a shame that this truth has gotten lost in the maelstrom of vitriol directed at Akin. The sad fact is that Republicans are held to a wildly different standard when it comes to these matters than are Democrats, as Jeff Lord writes about Slick Willy today. A man accused of rape is lauded in Democrats’ eyes, while a man who chooses unwise words on the matter is vilified. The difference, of course, is that Akin is staunchly pro-life while Bill Clinton is not. Democrats won’t stand for their sacred idol of abortion to be defiled.