PRO CHOICE: TORONTO OR VANCOUVER

 I never thought that I would ever hear a candidate running for the United State Senate say out loud, "that sperm don't hunt!"  Which is approximately what Missouri Congressman Todd Akin said when describing what happens when a woman is "legitimately" raped.  He said that he got that "well-documented" biological information from a couple of magazine articles.  Maybe it was from a blog.  Perhaps he saw it on the wall of the men's room at his local lodge.  My guess is he heard it at a Hank Williams Jr. concert.
 The Congressman was talking about rape in regards to the abortion issue.  He doesn't believe that there should be any exception when it comes to abortion.  I hate the premise of that whole debate.   Abortion is not about exceptions.  That narrows the discussion.  It is about a woman's right to choose.  Lately people talk about the life of the mother, incest, and rape.    I want some woman to stand up and say, "It's not just about those instances.  I had a pitcher of margaritas last night and allowed Tony to get further than first base.  Thank God I had my morning after pill."
 Oh well, who really cares about this guy in Missouri anyway.  Let the folks under the golden arch work this out in their own state.  Nobody in their right mind would align themselves with this guy's wacky ideology anyway.  Nobody except the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.  Together Ryan and Akin co-sponsored a bill that deems that personhood begins at conception.  Whatever.  I happen to think that there is a difference between egg salad and fried chicken but apparently they don't.  They happen to believe that an embryo could go on Jeopardy and do rather well.  "I'll go to Zygotes for $200."
 Paul Ryan said that the term "legitimate" rape used by Congressman Akin was ridiculous.  Less ridiculous to Ryan was the term "forcible" rape which he had in his co-sponsored bill.  That terminology was eventually deleted.  From the bill.  Not from the brain of Paul Ryan.
 Playing the good soldier, Ryan said that for the most part he agreed with Mitt Romney on abortion.  Romney believes (well, at least today he believes) that in cases of rape and incest there can be abortions.  Ryan said that Romney's position was a "step in the right direction".  Ryan basically believes that there are no exceptions when it comes to abortion.  He also doesn't approve of tongues being used between a man and a woman.  He thinks tongues are icky.
 So; where are these steps in the right direction going? If I was a woman I'd be leafing through travel brochures for Toronto and Vancouver.  That's where the ladies will have to go to have an abortion in the near future if the Republicans have their way.  I know arroz con pollo is better than Canadian bacon, but you don't really want to go to Mexico and have some ill-equipped clinic go South of the Border on you.  You know, it is one thing for Kobe Bryant to go to Germany to have work done on his knee - it is another thing entirely for your 15 year old daughter having to travel to the land of Dudley Do Right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.  What the hell is happening in this country!
 Once again we need to hear more from younger women.  A little more outrage please.  Today it seems  that if you ask some sorority co-ed named Heather what she thinks of Roe vs Wade, she will respond, "I don't follow tennis that much, but I think that Maria Sharapova has great skin."  Somebody should write a sequel to the Vagina Monologues and call it the Clitoris Chronicles.  Women that had to have abortions in the past should recount their stories of wire hangers and back alleys.  School the black-nail polish generation.  Create an uprising.
 Todd Akin's comments were beyond contempt.  Unfortunately they are not as far enough away from the mainstream as you might think.   When all the furor dies down it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Akin got elected.  If he loses he'll probably get a gig doing commercials for Cialis.    My guess is that his sperm hasn't hunted in years.