# Todd Akin \[rape does not result in pregnancy\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655 "2012-08-25T23:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/41 "2012-08-26T21:09:38Z")
Found [this legal citation](http://books.google.com/books?id=VFowAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=%22If+the+uterine+organs+be+in+a+condition+favorable%22&source=bl&ots=lgtV-9mTXs&sig=oQFfuhQj6OGm3adEVwDbrcmYgqI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=O6A2UOPgLun_igLa0oHQCg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22If%20the%20uterine%20organs%20be%20in%20a%20condition%20favorable%22&f=false) posted over at [Volokh.com](http://Volokh.com) interesting: > [@](#): > > The notion that if the woman conceived, it could not be a rape, because she must have in such case consented, is quite exploded. From 1820. So it is a bit of thinking that has survived quite a while without any popular support. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/42 "2012-08-26T21:13:27Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Of course; a damned lie can be made all the more damnable by pegging it to a single known fact, however insignificant or irrelevant. Exactly. And, frankly, all you need to do is look around to see that the whole rape =/= pregnancy thing is ridiculous. As some (black, if it matters) comedian said the other night, “If women can’t get pregnant from rape, why are there so many light skinned black people in Alabama?” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/43 "2012-08-26T21:32:44Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > “If women can’t get pregnant from rape, why are there so many light skinned black people in Alabama?” That’s a good one! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/44 "2012-08-27T02:52:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Also, there is no such thing as “legitimate” rape any more than there is “legitimate” murder or “legitimate” theft. Rape is, by definition, illegal and non-consensual. It requires no adjective to make it so. It’s disappointing that anyone could fail to see from the context that Akin meant “actual” or “bona fide” rather than “justifiable”. It’s just like people who think Obama saying, “you didn’t build that” as meaning businesses rather than roads and bridges. You can still fault Akin for minimizing the severity of other forms of rape as well as the absurd theory about pregnancy. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/45 "2012-08-27T03:43:51Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > It’s disappointing that anyone could fail to see from the context that Akin meant “actual” or “bona fide” rather than “justifiable”. It’s just like people who think Obama saying, “you didn’t build that” as meaning businesses rather than roads and bridges. Didn’t Akin say that what he really meant was _forcible_ rape? Whatever that means. The [FBI UCR provides a definiton](http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/violent-crime/rapemain), but I have no idea if that’s what he means. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/46 "2012-08-27T04:39:21Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > That is what I am asking though, it’s one thing for some old-fashioned dumb-ass yokel from Missouri to believe this; but are the doctors upon whose work these ‘true believers’ are basing their justifications/beliefs also ‘true believers’? Despite being medically trained? Despite being _fucking doctors?_ The level of disconnect and denial necessary for such an existence is staggering just to imagine. > > ETA: Or, are they so morally opposed to abortion that they cynically put forth these wacky theories in an attempt to medically justify such moral positions, knowing the fallacy of said positions the entire time? > [@MandaJo](#): > > There is a wide-spread belief out there that “stress” interferes with pregnancy. Women dealing with infertility hear this all the time: “Just relax and let it happen. Quit _stressing_”. This is despite the fact that there’s any amount of evidence of highly stressed women getting pregnant–I mean, if stress stopped pregnancy, you’d never see babies less than 18 months apart, but that pacing isn’t uncommon at all. And how many women get pregnant at exactly the wrong time–failing marriage, just started law school, declared bankruptcy, new job? But the idea that a woman’s body is this delicate flower that must be coddled and nurtured to work right is out there. The whole “can’t get pregnant by rape” thing is an extension of that. > [@Chronos](#): > > They aren’t necessarily being _dishonest_, per se. A doctor might legitimately (though mistakenly) believe some “fact” by virtue of the fact that other doctors believe it. Unfortunately, of course, this is self-reinforcing: Dr. Bob will say “Dr. Jim says so; are you calling him a liar?”, while Dr. Jim will say “Dr. Bob says so; are you calling him a liar?”. People who believe the world operates a certain way will re-interpret facts to match their world view. Even educated people, even doctors. Instead of doing the simple causation factors and understanding that anyone in this thread seems to do, they seem to conflate terms and conditions to produce a result in their mind that settles nicely does not upset the applecart of their view of how the universe should be unfolding. “Stress can prevent pregnancy? Well, rape is stress. Aha…” Remember the stories of people who refuxed to believe what they saw through Galileo’s telescope, because the heavens were supposed to pure and perfect, not mountainous, cratered, or with unexplained small moons? Those guys were educated too. How about the guys who refused to believe so-and-so could be banging little boys in the university shower because “we know him well and he’s a good guy”? Never underestimate the ability of the human mind, educated or otherwise, to engage in denial. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/47 "2012-08-27T04:46:33Z")
I have a related question: I’m not much of a Biblical scholar, but it seems to me the Old Testament had a couple of “rape babies” in it (via Ruth, Esther, Lot’s daughters, etc.). This is relevant because Willke’s fans and believers seem to come from the Evangelical community, and Biblical counter-evidence might hold water in an argument with them. So, Bible scholars: Any “rape babies” in the Bible that you can cite? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/48 "2012-08-27T05:54:08Z")
No matter how you slice it, he was still wrong. Because even when a woman is forcibly raped, she can still become aroused. That puts an end to his whole wack ass theory. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/49 "2012-08-27T11:09:17Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > It’s disappointing that anyone could fail to see from the context that Akin meant “actual” or “bona fide” rather than “justifiable”. It’s just like people who think Obama saying, “you didn’t build that” as meaning businesses rather than roads and bridges. > > You can still fault Akin for minimizing the severity of other forms of rape as well as the absurd theory about pregnancy. I understood legitimate rape to mean forcible, violent rape rather than statutory rape where the sex is considered rape not because it is accomplished through violence or threats, but because the victim, for some reason, is considered legally incapable of consenting. In some areas, 16 year old Suzie cannot legally consent to sex with her 18 year old boyfriend, but if they do end up going to bed, one can’t really expect Suzie to be emotionally traumatized by the experience to the level of forcible rape because from her perspective, she consented. She could end up regretting it in the morning, or a few months later, but that’s not quite the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/50 "2012-08-27T11:25:02Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I understood legitimate rape to mean forcible, violent rape rather than statutory rape where the sex is considered rape not because it is accomplished through violence or threats, but because the victim, for some reason, is considered legally incapable of consenting. In some areas, 16 year old Suzie cannot legally consent to sex with her 18 year old boyfriend, but if they do end up going to bed, one can’t really expect Suzie to be emotionally traumatized by the experience to the level of forcible rape because from her perspective, she consented. She could end up regretting it in the morning, or a few months later, but that’s not quite the same thing. That’s how I initially parsed it as well, but we were wrong. He clarified later that he meant “legitimate rape” as opposed to “women who lie about being raped so they can get an abortion.” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/51 "2012-08-27T12:35:34Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Also, there is no such thing as “legitimate” rape any more than there is “legitimate” murder or “legitimate” theft. Rape is, by definition, illegal and non-consensual. It requires no adjective to make it so. Obviously true. But let’s take the medical claim (which is utterly false, of course) at face value: a consensual, loving, good-emotion filled sexual encounter causes a woman’s body to manufacture the soup of hormones necessary to create and sustain pregnancy; a violent, non-consensual, bad-emotion-filled sexual encounter fails to produce the magic hormones and pregnancy is either impossible or much less likely, depending on which version of the fairy tale you believe. If this fantasy tale were true, surely you’d concede that there was a distinction to be made between encounters that were non-consensual only as a matter of law, such as a woman too young to consent legally, and encounters that were the result of force, threat, or intimidation. “Legitimate” is not the right word to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/52 "2012-08-27T13:01:26Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I have a related question: I’m not much of a Biblical scholar, but it seems to me the Old Testament had a couple of “rape babies” in it (via Ruth, Esther, Lot’s daughters, etc.). This is relevant because Willke’s fans and believers seem to come from the Evangelical community, and Biblical counter-evidence might hold water in an argument with them. So, Bible scholars: Any “rape babies” in the Bible that you can cite? Lot’s daughters choose to have sex with him because they believed that they were the last people on earth and needed to repopulate the earth; that is, they saw themselves as Adam and Eve and Eve. They got there father drunk and had sex with him; if anyone was the rapist it was the two girls. Still no matter how you look at it it was an incestual relationship and not forced, legitimate or statutory rape. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/53 "2012-08-27T14:50:19Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > This is what it comes down to; they believe _most_ pregnancies coming from rape are just unscrupulous women who are lying simply to gain access to abortion services (or for some other reason). > [@Shodan](#): > > Like Jane Roe says she did. > > Regards, > Shodan > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > You are genuinely astonished that right wingers are lying? I am surprised when, occasionally, they tell the truth. [Moderator Note] Let’s keep extraneous political commentary out of this thread. No warnings issued. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/54 "2012-08-27T15:13:49Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > That’s how I initially parsed it as well, but we were wrong. He clarified later that he meant “legitimate rape” as opposed to “women who lie about being raped so they can get an abortion.” I’m not sure - this whole “legitimate rape” thing is a right-wing talking point, and another nutball, Scott Lively, [explained it thus](http://www.scottlively.net/2012/08/22/comment-on-the-akin-controversy/): > [@](#): > > Does a woman’s body have a defense mechanism to block impregnation when the attacker is a “legitimate” rapist, meaning in the traditional sense a violent surprise attacker as opposed to, say, the more modern feminist sense of a chosen romantic partner that just won’t accept “no” from the woman when she decides during heavy petting that she doesn’t want to copulate after all? So you see, if a stranger jumps out of the bushes and forces himself on a woman, that’s “rape,” but if she’s on a date, that’s not rape. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/55 "2012-08-27T15:53:47Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > “Legitimate rape” means someone other than a relative, like your sister or cousins. Isn’t that the way it goes back in the hills of Todd Akin’s Missouri? Todd Akin’s from St. Louis, and was born in NYC. Not exactly a hillbilly. And for the record, we in Mo. tell jokes like that about Arkansas, so–no, no, that’s not the way it goes. > [@standingwave](#): > > There is also one [Dr. Fred Mecklenburg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Mecklenburg#Opposition_to_abortion): > > _[14] Mecklenburg said researchers in Nazi death camps observed this effect by “selecting women who were about to ovulate and sending them to the gas chambers, only to bring them back after their realistic mock-killing, to see what the effect this had on their ovulatory patterns. An extremely high percentage of these women did not ovulate.”_ He thought Nazi death camp doctors could perceive ovulation? At all? It’s pretty hard to see now! He thought Nazi death camp doctors could perceive ovulation in an underfed population where hardly anyone had the fat reserves to ovulate? Are Nazis magic in his mind? > [@Krokodil](#): > > I have a related question: I’m not much of a Biblical scholar, but it seems to me the Old Testament had a couple of “rape babies” in it (via Ruth, Esther, Lot’s daughters, etc.). This is relevant because Willke’s fans and believers seem to come from the Evangelical community, and Biblical counter-evidence might hold water in an argument with them. So, Bible scholars: Any “rape babies” in the Bible that you can cite? Oddly enough, none come to mind. And I was raised in an evangelical church that fancied itself to be steeped in the Book. Maybe there’s something in one of the prophets; but the bits we read a lot seem to have been written by those with little interest in and little understanding of such things as ovulation, or of rape. Ruth and Esther are sort of “woman seduces man” stories; I don’t remember getting pregnant as a feature of the initial seduction (though Boaz and Ruth eventually had a kid). The story of Lot’s daughters and the story of Judah and Tamar, both from _Genesis_, are about women tricking men into sex and conceiving. Due to the hyper-condensed text of Genesis, it’s presented as if they each had sex with their target once and conceived. This might give the impression, to some people not well-read, that women can conceive at will. Dinah wasn’t mentioned as conceiving after her rapine (that is, abduction). Yeah, the closest that comes to mind is the Virgin Mary; her impregnation doesn’t seem to have been consented to so much as accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/56 "2012-08-27T17:43:09Z")
So one of my questions in thinkig about this was “how can the CDC, the medical profession or the Republican Party even claim to know how many pregnancies or abortions resulted from rape?” I have never known any medical professional to inquire about or see any significance of the circumstances of a child’s conception. Trying to quantify the number or percentage of pregancies resulting from rape would be sort of like trying to quantify the number or percentage of pregancies resulting from sex on the kitchen table. Despite the fact that I don’t know anyone that owns up to having or being a “kitchen table” baby, I’m sure they are out there and that there is nothing about sex on a kitchen table that magically prevents pregnancy. So, when a woman goes to obtain a legal abortion, is she even asked if she was raped? If so, is there any expectation that the answer is honest?..I think in many cases, a NO answer in that situation may just mean "none of your freakin’ business. I guess I can see a situation where a woman that would never ever ever have an abortion for convenience might make it very clear to the medical professionals involved that she is only there because she was raped but I wouldn’t think such situations are common. A lot of rape victims are married or in committed relationships. If one of these women is impregnated during a rape and decides to keep the child, how many people aside from this woman and her husband would ever know the circumstances of the child’s conception? Probably not many. I don’t want to even argue the medical because it might give credence to something totally ridiculous…like others have pointed out, most of the delicate hormonal stuff ( which isn’t that damn delicate ) like ovulation would’ve already taken place at the time of the rape. And I have friends in nursing that can vouch for the fact that women can be so seriously physically injutred and traumatized that they can’t breathe or swallow, yet their hormones still kick things off every 28 days. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/57 "2012-08-28T00:55:05Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Lot’s daughters choose to have sex with him because they believed that they were the last people on earth and needed to repopulate the earth; that is, they saw themselves as Adam and Eve and Eve. They got there father drunk and had sex with him; if anyone was the rapist it was the two girls. Still no matter how you look at it it was an incestual relationship and not forced, legitimate or statutory rape. Lot offered his daughters to the men of Sodom so they wouldn’t have sex with each other. Not particularly sensible to modern readers, but the bit with them and Lot in the cave was really the least of it. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/58 "2012-08-28T01:27:40Z")
Okay, for everyone who thinks this just totally nuts, read up on theories about female organism. It has been posited that lubrication and spasms evolved to assist the sperm on their journey to the egg. Therefore, one could argue, if the woman is not aroused, and does not orgasm, the mechanisms that evolved to promote fertilization are not triggered. Am I defending this theory? No. Have I read weirder theories? Hell, yes. Do I believe it is impossible for an assault rape (as opposed to an incapable-of-consent rape) to result in pregnancy? No. But I wonder if they do result in pregnancy less frequently … I don’t know; I don’t care; no child should be brought into this world reluctantly. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/59 "2012-08-28T01:33:35Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Obviously true. > > But let’s take the medical claim (which is utterly false, of course) at face value: a consensual, loving, good-emotion filled sexual encounter causes a woman’s body to manufacture the soup of hormones necessary to create and sustain pregnancy; a violent, non-consensual, bad-emotion-filled sexual encounter fails to produce the magic hormones and pregnancy is either impossible or much less likely, depending on which version of the fairy tale you believe. > > If this fantasy tale were true, surely you’d concede that there was a distinction to be made between encounters that were non-consensual only as a matter of law, such as a woman too young to consent legally, and encounters that were the result of force, threat, or intimidation. > > “Legitimate” is not the right word to do so. I think there’s a little more to it. “Culture wars” types point to the late 70s/early 80s as a time when commonly-held notions about what is and isn’t rape were suddenly dashed by leftists and feminists. “Marital rape” was not, to their recollection, a serious concept until John and Greta Rideout got it into the law books. “Date rape” was kind of a grey area, and feminist scholars like Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin seemingly tried to get every interaction involving a penis redefined as rape. My hunch, and I have no cite, is that “legitimate rape” excludes all of the stuff this particular era dragged in, or is thought to have dragged in. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655/60 "2012-08-28T01:42:29Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Okay, for everyone who thinks this just totally nuts, read up on theories about female organism. > > It has been posited that lubrication and spasms evolved to assist the sperm on their journey to the egg. Therefore, one could argue, if the woman is not aroused, and does not orgasm, the mechanisms that evolved to promote fertilization are not triggered. > > Am I defending this theory? No. Have I read weirder theories? Hell, yes. > > Do I believe it is impossible for an assault rape (as opposed to an incapable-of-consent rape) to result in pregnancy? No. But I wonder if they do result in pregnancy less frequently … > > I don’t know; I don’t care; no child should be brought into this world reluctantly. A. Women sometimes orgasm during rape. Yes, even “legitimate rape”. Yes, even if her face is getting bashed in with a hammer while she’s being raped. B. Just because something \*promotes \*conception does not mean it’s \*required \*for conception. See also: tequila. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/todd-akin-rape-does-not-result-in-pregnancy/632655.md?page=4)