A video from 2008 has surfaced in which Representative Todd Akin alleges that malpractice from doctors who perform abortions is “common place.”
New York Magazine reports on Akin’s comments, which can serve as prelude to his explosive comments from earlier this year in which he said women cannot become pregnant from “legitimate rape,” as their bodies will block a pregnancy in that circumstance.
In the 2008 video, Akin tells Congress: “One of the good pieces of news why we're winning this war is because there are not enough heartless doctors being graduated from medical schools. There's a real shortage of abortionists. Who wants to be at the very bottom of the food chain of the medical profession? And what sort of places do these bottom-of-the-food-chain doctors work in? Places that are really a pit.
“You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other law-breaking: not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die. All of these things are common practice, and all of that information is available for America.”
While the Akin assertion that doctors performing abortions on women who are not in fact pregnant is “bizarre,” as New York Magazine writes, there are actually reported instances of it happening.
A 1989 Chicago Tribune story about Arnold Bickham, for example, explained: “The license revocation was the second time Bickham had lost his license for wrongdoing. In 1979, the state suspended his license for 18 months after charging that he performed abortions on women who were not pregnant and sometimes not fully under anesthesia.”
However, this one recorded instance of such “malpractice” occurring far from supports Akin’s assertion that it is “common place.”
The 2008 video, which was discovered by Slate, made news just as it was revealed that Akin may have been making a bounce back from his August “legitimate rape” comments in his race against incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill for a Missouri Senate seat.
4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.EphraimKibbey | Oct 04, 2012, 03:03 PM EDT
I wonder how the threat of being murdered by "PRO-LIFE?" fanatics affects the number of doctors who perform abortions?
katiemac | Oct 04, 2012, 02:18 PM EDT
As much as I hate to align myself with Akin, he is correct. People don't go to medical schools thinking hey I want to be an abortionist. The field is full of 'doctors' who have failed or been kicked out of every other specialty and see this as a lucrative means of practice. Slim chance of malpractice suits because of the shame of having killed one's child. What could be better for all the hacks and has=beens in the medical field. All that happened with Roe v Wade was that the 'back-street' abortions hung out their shingles on Main St. They think the women they abort are trash and treat them accordingly. A young woman in Chicago died recently because the abortion clinic delayed emergency treatment for 5 hours. That is not the action of a caring physician. That is the action of a bumbling and ucaring practioner hoping the problem will go away.
mikehoulihan | Oct 04, 2012, 10:23 AM EDT
What the hell does this have to do with being Irish?
PhlutiePhan | Oct 04, 2012, 10:18 AM EDT
As a Catholic Navy vet of Irish extraction, I find Akin to be bizarre with a "machine gun" mouth. However, McCaskill (Is that her real name or that of her husband?) is quite the hypocrite. She espouses to continue to be a Catholic and yet support unlimited abortion. She does draw the line with partial birth. However, abortions in the ninth month do not appear to be a problem. Her only critic was AB Raymond Burke and was "run out of St. Louis". I presume that she was complicit. I voted for Sarah Steelman and thousands of Demos crossed over to vote for Akin as the best cannon fodder for McCaskill. In spite of many "foot in mouth" comments, Akin is still in the race. Sadly, I McCaskill will be beaten. Missouri is going for Romney and Poor Claire will suffer the results.