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Content warning: This article features the discussion of, and statistics on, sexual assaults. Reader discretion is advised. Activists have thrown a spotlight on past comments made about rape by prominent anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans. An online post from left-wing outlet Occupy Democrats revealed the comments made by six officials over the years, apparently justifying or downplaying the rape of women and girls in the US. The post on Facebook and Instagram included quotes from Clayton Williams, Todd Akin, Rick Santorum, Richard Mourdock, Jodie Laubenberg and Lawrence Lockman. Fact-checked by Snopes, the quotes included Todd Akin (R-MO) saying: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down.” Santorum, a notoriously anti-LGBTQ+ former US senator, was quoted as saying: “Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.” Another of the quotes, made by Williams during his failed campaign to become governor of Texas governor in 1990, read: “Rape is kinda like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” He died in 2020. In the 80s, Lockman, a former member of the Maine house of representatives, described LGBTQ+ people as biologically insane. According to a 2014 article from blogger Mike Tipping, Lockman also became involved in anti-abortion activism. During his stint as a director of the Pro-Life Education Association in the 90s, he said: “If a woman has [the right to an abortion], why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.” He later apologised for his remarks, saying he held “no animosity toward anyone by virtue of their gender or sexual orientation”. Laubenberg, who died last month at the age of 68, sat in Texas house of representatives from 2003 to 2019. During a debate about abortion legislation in 2013, while opposing the addition to a bill that would have made an exception for women who had been raped, she reportedly said: “In hospital emergency rooms, we have funded what’s called rape kits that will help the woman, basically clean her out [to avoid pregnancies]… basically like an emergency contraception, where they can also do the morning-after pill.” Rape kits are not used to terminate pregnancies, but to gather and preserve physical evidence for any possible prosecution. Asked about abortion and contraceptive rights, former US senate hopeful Mourdock was quoted in the post as saying: “Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something God intended to happen.” He later clarified his comments in a press conference following the debate, saying that he had intended to say that “God creates life,” and that any interpretation of his comments to mean God “pre-ordained rape” were “sick” and “twisted.” “What I said was, in answering the question form my position of faith, I said I believe that God creates life. I believe that as wholly and as fully as I can believe it. That God creates life. Are you trying to suggest that somehow I think that God pre-ordained rape? No, I don’t think that. That’s sick. Twisted. That’s not even close to what I said. What I said is that God creates life.” Snopes contacted Santorum, Mourdock and Lockman for comment: the only three people mentioned in the meme who are still alive. They have yet to receive a response. Studies have shown that survivors of sexual violence in the US are significantly more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. One report from 2020 revealed that 13 per cent of respondents had tried to take their own life. Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact the Samaritans on 116 123 (samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
