Whatever Rick Santorum May Think, Pregnancy From Rape Should Never Be Considered As A "Broken Gift" - PLUS: NC Representative Larry Pittman supports "public hangings for abortionists"

By Kathleen

I have been "out of the loop" the last week and happily spent a lot of time away from the internet. Still, the most outrageous statements made by the GOP presidential candidates last week were waiting for me -- drawing me in. This resulted in my either silently seething or loudly fuming at the screen of my laptop. Yes, I was vexed. And there was much to feel vexed about.

But it was Rick Santorum who caused me to feel most agitated when I watched his interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. The interview mostly focused on Santorum's views regarding rape and abortion and the advice he would give his daughter if she had been raped and significantly that she wanted an abortion because her life was ruined. Sanctimoniously, Santorum pronounced "You can make an argument that if she doesn't have this baby, if she kills her child, that too could ruin her life." Pressing further he added: 

"I believe and I think that the right approach is to accept this horribly created, in the sense of rape, but nevertheless, in a very broken way, a gift of human life, and accept what God is giving you. As you know, in lots of different aspects of our life we have horrible things happening. I can't think of anything more horrible, but nevertheless we have to make the best of a bad situation. And that is making the best of a bad situation."

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So basically Santorum's advice is "make lemonade out of lemons" because turning down a "gift" even though it is "horrible" would be a sort of churlish thing to do. God damm it woman, you are so ungrateful! Take your gift and be thankful for it. 

Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss Santorum's advice and what it means for women:

 

UPDATE (by Patrick):

It is worth remembering that Sarah Palin gave a very similar answer in a TV-debate during her run for Governor in Alaska in 2006. Back then, Palin said that if her daughter was raped, she "would choose life."

Afterwards moderate Republican Andrew Halcro, who is widely credited with being one of the most intelligent politicians in Alaska, provides an excellent response in this TV-debate.

Also, in a post at Palingates from December 2009, I revealed that Sarah Palin blatantly lied about the content of this particular TV-debate in her biography "Going Rogue."

Watch the clip:

Meanwhile in North Carolina, Republican Larry Pittman believes that it would be a great idea to bring back public hanging as a deterrent against murderers, rapists, kidnappers and you guessed it people who perform abortions. Pittman let his views be known in an email that he accidently sent to every member of the General Assembly of North Carolina.

Jessica Pieklo at Care2.com writes:

Pittman expressed this view in an email to every member of the North Carolina General Assembly. From Pittman’s email: “We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner,” Pittman wrote in the email. “If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.”

Criminalizing abortion is of course the very goal of the right, so it is no surprise to hear that a conservative lawmaker would view abortion providers as criminals. What is more telling is that Pittman’s position is quickly becoming the “center” for the right on the abortion issue. Last year alone Republicans in Nebraska, Iowa and South Carolina all pushed legislation that would essentially criminalize abortion and 2012 promises even more such measures.

And the harder to the right Republicans go on the abortion issue, the more violent their rhetoric. The more violent their rhetoric the more violent their actions. To call Pittman lumping abortion providers in with murderers and rapists as those who are first in line for a public hanging irresponsible would be generous.

Health care providers are not criminals, and it’s time conservatives get a grip and stop trying to treat them as such.

(See also the additional reporting by Think Progress about this issue.)

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Pieklo makes a good point, the more violent the rhetoric the more violent the actions. What method of deterrence would Pittman advocate for those who kill doctors who provide abortions or who bomb abortion clinics? Unfortunately I doubt very much that there is any deterrence against such ingrained hate. 

Public hanging is barbaric and should not be condoned by anyone, especially not a politician. Larry Pittman has accidentally revealed that he is all for using fear as a tool to control society. No surprise there -- the GOP has been jumping on the fear train for as long as the American public has accepted it. 

So what can we expect next from the Grand Old Party? The public stoning of women who have an abortion? The lynching of gay people? The forceful breeding of women whether they want to bear children or not? Only you the American public can decide.

Let Larry Pittman know what your thoughts are on his facebook page.

His contact details at the North Carolina General Assembly.

Larry Pittman

 Larry Pittman explains his biography on facebook:

In a response to the outrage that followed after Pittman accidentially hit the "Reply to All" button and sent his email to every member of the NC General Assembly, Pittman came up with an explanation - he "got a bit carried away", because he was upset that a convicted murderer wasn't executed quickly enough:

"I was filled with anger, disgust, and frustration, as well as a profound sense of grief for the family of the young woman he killed," Pittman said of Hembree. "I felt a need to 'vent' some of these feelings and intended to do so to him alone. In the process, I got a bit carried away and overstated my case. I am sure I am not the only one who has ever done that."

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Patrick and I would like to give a big shout out to Nomad who took over the running of the blog for a week while we caught up with family and friends in the UK. I am sure that you will all agree that Nomad did a great job. Thanks again, Nomad. 

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