Shade of the Day: Congressmen from around the World Who Think Rape Canât Cause Pregnancy
Lawmakers who oppose women's health tend to make some of the same tired arguments, no matter where they're from.
For example: remember this guy?
Thatâs former U.S. Congressman Todd Akin stating, back in 2012, that women canât get pregnant from rape, because âif itâs a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.â With this statement, he became part of a long list of politicians that just donât quite understand sexual assault, women, or their health.
This week, Peruvian politician and president of the Peruvian Congressional Human Rights and Justice Committee Juan Carlos Eguren is the latest to join this unprestigious club of politicians. Speaking in Peruâs Congress against decriminalizing abortion, he claimed:
Translation: âIt is almost impossible that a pregnancy results after a rape, from the streets, because a state of stress happens where there is no lubrication in a woman.â
As if that werenât enough, another Peruvian politician, RaĂșl Castro, has come out in support of Eguren, stating that what he said has âscientific proof.â
Members of the #DejalaDecidir campaign, or âlet her decideâ in Spanish, condemned the comments. âEven if only one woman, among many who are abused, ended up pregnant, that victim alone has the right to decide if or not they will continue their pregnancy, resulting from a rape,â said Romy GarcĂa Orbegoso, a representative of the group.
Peruvian Minister for Women and Vulnerable Populations, Marcela Huaita, responded to Egurenâs comment, saying "I believe all women feel affected when such a painful subject is talked about with so little feeling and with a prevailing ignorance of reality.â
Lawmakers who donât seem to understand the basics of how womenâs bodies work shouldnât  be interfering with womenâs personal health care decisions, period.
