Todd Akin has an intellectual heir in Missouri.

Todd Akin has an intellectual heir in Missouri.

"Just like any rape, you have to report it, and you have to prove it," Brattin tells Mother Jones. "So you couldn't just go and say, 'Oh yeah, I was raped,' and get an abortion. It has to be a legitimate rape."

"I'm just saying if there was a legitimate rape, you're going to make a police report, just as if you were robbed," Brattin says. "That's just common sense." Under his bill, he adds, "you have to take steps to show that you were raped…And I'd think you'd be able to prove that." The bill contains no provision establishing standards for claiming the rape or incest exceptions. It also doesn't state any specific penalties for violating the law nor say whether a penalty would be imposed on the woman seeking the abortion or the abortion provider.

Hi there, patriarchy! Women in Missouri could soon have to get permission from their sexual partners in order to get an abortion, if state Rep. Rick Brattin gets his way. Brattin has filed a bill saying that "No abortion shall be performed or induced unless and until the father of the unborn child provides written, notarized consent to the abortion." Asked about an exception for rape or incest, Brattin fell back on a classic:Beg pardon? Did he just say ... ? Oh, don't worry, he assures us he's no Todd Akin:Oh, well then. He's not saying, like Akin, that it's impossible for rape to lead to pregnancy, he's just saying that if it does, you'd better have evidence your friendly local police officer accepts as proof. Common sense, he says, because it's not like the way rape victims are treated is any kind of barrier to reporting. And Brattin's explanation for why it makes sense to exclude abuse victims from the rape or incest exception does not build confidence in the sensitivity he's likely to exhibit in setting up the specifics of how women can invoke the rape or incest exceptions. In abuse cases, "What does that have to do with the child's life? Just because it was an abusive relationship, does that mean the child should die?"

Hey, asshole: Abusive relationships often involve rape. Abuse often intensifies during pregnancy. You're really saying a woman should be forced into a choice between asking her abuser for his signature giving away control over her body or being locked into a long-term relationship as parents of a child? Never mind. Of course he's saying that! Because of course a fetus is more important to this asshole than the health and safety of a woman is, let alone a woman's right to control her own body.

This man is evil.