Introduction

Reuters

Republicans and Democrats expressed outrage after Todd Akin, the G.O.P. Senate candidate in Missouri, said he opposed all abortions, even after rape, because in cases of “legitimate rape,” women rarely get pregnant.

But Akin’s position is not unusual; many opponents of abortion want a ban without exceptions. A draft of the Republican platform essentially calls for that. An early version of a House bill banning federal money for abortions, co-sponsored by the Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, refined the rape exception so it would deal only with “forcible rape.”

Given all this like-minded thought, why are Akin’s comments considered so outrageous?