Republican Senate Nominee: "Legitimate" rape victims don't get pregnant

The relevant statute says someone like Mr. Akin can withdraw “pursuant to a court order, which, except for good cause shown by the election authority in opposition thereto, shall be freely given upon application by the candidate to the circuit court in the county of such candidate’s residence.”

Election officials say they can find no precedent at all for such an objection in the state’s history. But Ms. Carnahan is herself a factor in Republican minds. As the Democratic Senate nominee in 2010, she lost to Representative Roy Blunt, and Republicans imagine she could put up a fight.

“The secretary’s job is to protect the rights of Missouri voters,” Ms. Temple said when asked whether Ms. Carnahan would fight a court order to remove Mr. Akin’s name from the ballot.

A further complication: Under state law, any election authority in Missouri can oppose a withdrawal order, down to the county and city level, and there are Democrats aplenty in Missouri. But Ms. Temple added that right now, it would be up to a Missouri court to determine whether Mr. Akin could withdraw, not the secretary of state.

“It’s completely in the hands of the court to decide the facts,” she said.

Assuming Mr. Akin does manage to drop out, the state central committee of the Republican Party in Missouri would have to pick a new candidate within 28 days, or by Oct. 12, whichever comes first. Source

MISSOURI: “Written off by many in his own party a mere month ago, Republican Rep. Todd Akin has been slowly rebuilding his Senate campaign after apologizing for inflammatory remarks about pregnancy and rape,” AP writes. “Now Akin is approaching a critical week that could determine whether his re-emerging campaign can gain enough momentum to put Missouri back in the battleground column as Republicans attempt to win control of the Senate from Democrats. Tuesday is the deadline for Akin to get a court order to drop his challenge of Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. But Akin says he won’t do so. Instead, Akin plans to ramp up his campaign. He’s holding a fundraiser Monday with former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. He’s addressing a potentially influential group of pastors Tuesday morning. Then as the drop-out clock ticks down, he’s kicking off a statewide bus tour for his Senate bid that will include venerable conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) – Is Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin facing a cash crunch? Todd Akin’s TV ads are reportedly being yanked from stations across the state because his campaign isn’t paying the bills.

KOMU-TV in Columbia says it received half of the payment for an ad buy and when it didn’t get the other half, it cancelled the rest of the ads. The station says it’s confirmed that other stations in St. Louis and Kansas City have been put in the same position.

You’ll recall that after Akin’s controversial comments about rape and abortion, major donors, Super PACs and even the Republican party said they would pull support.

An Akin spokesman told KOMU that it was a scheduling mistake and the final portion of their payments is coming in the mail, so to speak, to most of the stations.

i am thinking that bus heads to the court house to drop paperwork. not a nice thing to do to Gingrich or Schlafly, but what are there....about 9 people in the country who care if either of these has two beens get humiliated?

DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund says 93% of supporters want to back Akin and they have pledged $290k.

After Akin declared last month that women cannot get pregnant from “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” nearly every prominent Republican called on the Missouri Republican to drop out, including RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. When a reporter asked him at the Republican National Convention last month whether the party would support Akin even if he didn’t drop out, Priebus was unequivocal: “no, no, no.”


REPORTER: If he stays in, is y’all’s position eventually going to change and you’re going to have to support him?

PRIEBUS: No, no, no. He can be tied, we’re not gonna send him a penny.


Today, after Akin stayed in the race and polls showing it tied, Priebus took a far different tone:


Asked directly if he considered Akin to be a better option for Missouri voters than McCaskill, Priebus did not hesitate.

“Well, absolutely,” he said in the interview. “That’s a given, and as chairman of the party, I have an obligation to make sure we win as many seats in the Senate as possible.”

Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, are listed as honorary hosts of a Wednesday reception for Akin in Washington. The requested donation is $2,500.

DeMint has previously hinted at the possibility of financial support for Akin, but the participation of the three other senators -- particularly the less stridently conservative Graham -- is a welcome development for Akin as he fights the general election with limited financial support from his national party.

Here's the invitation:

Tom Carpenter, Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates
Ryan Bradel, Esquire, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Honorary Hosts
Senator Tom Coburn
Senator Jim DeMint
Senator James Inhofe
Senator Lindsey Graham
Invite you to join them at a Luncheon for
U.S. Representative Todd Akin
Republican Nominee for Missouri U.S. Senate
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Eastgate
710 East Capitol Street, NE, Washington, DC
Suggested Donations: $2,500—Host $1,000 – PACs $500 – Individual $250 – Young Professionals
Todd Akin for US Senate, PO Box 31222, St. Louis, MO 63131

"The entire Republican Party should stand up and say, 'You know what? He's our candidate, it's too important for the future of our country not to have a majority of the Senate in this upcoming election," Santorum said when asked if Romney needs to publicly support Akin. "I'm hoping everybody will join in and support the cause." More

laws to control women's bodies established by men

On Friday, Judge Carol Jackson, a George H.W. Bush appointee to a federal court in Missouri, rejected a Catholic business owner’s challenge to the Obama Administration’s rules requiring employer health plans to cover birth control. Like the many copycat lawsuits asserting similar legal claims, the plaintiffs in this suit argued that the birth control rules substantially burden their faith by requiring them to pay for employee health benefits which might then in turn be used to pay for birth control. As Judge Jackson’s opinions explains, however, this argument proves too much:


The burden of which plaintiffs complain is that funds, which plaintiffs will contribute to a group health plan, might, after a series of independent decisions by health care providers and patients covered by [an employer's health] plan, subsidize someone else’s participation in an activity that is condemned by plaintiffs’ religion. . . . [Federal religious freedom law] is a shield, not a sword. It protects individuals from substantial burdens on religious exercise that occur when the government coerces action one’s religion forbids, or forbids action one’s religion requires; it is not a means to force one’s religious practices upon others. [It] does not protect against the slight burden on religious exercise that arises when one’s money circuitously flows to support the conduct of other free-exercise-wielding individuals who hold religious beliefs that differ from one’s own. . . .

[T]he health care plan will offend plaintiffs’ religious beliefs only if an [] employee (or covered family member) makes an independent decision to use the plan to cover counseling related to or the purchase of contraceptives. Already, [plaintiffs] pay salaries to their employees—money the employees may use to purchase contraceptives or to contribute to a religious organization. By comparison, the contribution to a health care plan has no more than a de minimus impact on the plaintiff’s religious beliefs than paying salaries and other benefits to employees.