Karen O'Connor is the Jonathan N. Helfat distinguished professor of political science at American University. She is the author of "No Neutral Ground: Abortion Politics in an Age of Absolutes" and has testified about reproductive rights before both the House and Senate Judiciary subcommittees on the Constitution.

The concept of a “legitimate” or “forcible” rape is just part of the Republican war on women that has escalated drastically in this election cycle. "Legitimate” rape may be a new, unartful term, but it has been part of the socially conservative Republican's battle cry since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

A better question: Why did Romney pick as his running mate a politician with a voting history as extreme as, if not more extreme than, Akin's?

In spite of ad campaigns by pro-choice groups and Democrats in the House and Senate, it took an obscure House member in Missouri to catapult Republicans’ draconian views about women that have been in their platform for decades into the public spotlight. Credible threats on her life from militant pro-lifers who have been responsible for the killings of doctors and other health care professionals have forced Senator Claire McCaskill, Representative Todd Akin’s opponent, to have around-the-clock protection. Did that make the news? Not really. Short of, God forbid, an actual injury, it has been fairly impossible for McCaskill to draw the news media spotlight to what is at stake for women and children in this election in spite of clear-cut differences between the two parties on just one of the many issues at hand.

Calls for an end to abortion in all cases, even a pregnancy brought on by the rape of a 10-year-old by her uncle or another predator, are finally coming to the fore. The major question to be asked is not whether Akin will stay or go, but why did Mitt Romney pick as his running mate a politician with a voting history as extreme as, if not more extreme than, Akin's? Until this week, the Romney team was on board. Not only had he agreed that all abortions should be illegal, but Paul Ryan has also called for bans on several forms of birth control. Indeed, Romney should not have been outraged by Akin’s comments. As a true Republican with Ryan as his running mate, he should support them.

In response to the Republicans' many attempts to restrict reproductive rights --including a constitutional amendment banning all abortions which has been contained in the party's platform for years --it is time for Democrats to propose a Contract With American Women and Children. Just as the Republicans' Contract With America in 1994 set out clear priorities offering voters explicit choices, this new contract should include a simple pledge to:

• Guarantee insurance coverage for contraceptives

• Insure a woman's right to an abortion as guaranteed by Roe v.Wade

• Support the Fair Paycheck Act

• Support enforcement of Title IX in America's high schools and universities, and

• Make women's access to preventive health care a universal right, including free mammograms and pap smears.

If in 1994 Republicans could agree that term limits, unfunded mandates and the like were in need of national debate and enumeration, how can women, Democrats and the news media not demand more?