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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOhio Lawmaker Says Pregnancy from Rape Is an 'Opportunity'
Getting pregnant by your rapist is actually an opportunity, according to Ohio state Rep. Jean Schmidt (R), who testified Wednesday in favor of a bill to curb abortion in Ohio. Schmidt says rape is difficult and may leave emotional scars on its survivorsbut if a baby is created, it is a human life. And whether that mother ends that pregnancy or not, the scars will not go away. Period. It is a shame that it happens, but theres an opportunity for that woman, no matter how young or old she is, Schmidt said.
Yes, it was a pretty disturbing choice to add the how young in there, but rather than dwelling on the idea of children being forced to carry a pregnancy by their rapist, Schmidt just barreled forward: To make a determination about what shes going to do to help that life be a productive human being. She can choose to give that child to a loving family member, or give it to someone else. And that child can grow up to be something magnificent, a wonderful family person, uh, cure cancer, etc.
Schmidts gross comments were a part of the former congresswomans push to pass a trigger ban in Ohio. Trigger bans are legislation that would outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade was ruled unconstitutional, or more recently, if a constitutional amendment ruling abortion a state issue. Among the actual provisions of the bill include punishing abortion providers with a felony and license forfeiture, banning medication abortion, and banning abortion pills. If it will be used for an abortion alone, and for not other medical uses, it wont be allowed, Schmidt said.
Schmidts comments are a part of a long lineage of Republican lawmakers believing sexual assault and rape are growth opportunities for the survivors. (And only for uterus-having survivors.) In 2012, an Indiana Senate candidate tanked his campaign when he said if a woman becomes pregnant from rape God intended it. And of course, there was the O.G. (Original Ghoul) Todd Akin asserting that women cant physically get pregnant from rape because their bodies have mysterious ways of shutting that whole thing down.
https://jezebel.com/ohio-lawmaker-says-pregnancy-from-rape-is-an-opportunit-1848849829
These people are insane. "Pregnancy from rape is an opportunity? It is a shame if it happens? What is, the rape, the pregnancy or both? No, it is not a shame when it happens, it is a crime and your adding the comment "no matter how young" is pure filth. Jean is literally saying that young girls should joyfully carry their rapists baby because it is a great OPPORTUNITY! FFS!
rurallib
(64,684 posts)dalton99a
(94,071 posts)
ProudMNDemocrat
(20,877 posts)ShazzieB
(22,557 posts)Hey, Aunt Lydia, if you have any openings for additional aunts, we have someone who looks like a great candidate here. I think she'd be perfect for your...err, organization. 🤗
I'm sure she'd love the work. Providing all those "opportunities" for the handmaids would be right up her alley. Blessed be the fruit, and all that! 😉
Demovictory9
(37,113 posts)
XacerbatedDem
(511 posts)2Gingersnaps
(1,000 posts)Every child deserves to be born in love, the hope and the dreams of two good intentioned parents.
I lost my parents as a child in Ohio, one to cancer the other of a heart attack by the time I was twelve. I KNOW how Ohio takes care of widows and orphans and trust me, it is NOT what Jesus intended! The Foster System is the most failed government program no one knows about in the United States, and that according to a Cleveland Family Court Judge running for Supreme Court about 20 years ago, who of course lost. "The way it's always been," is the way it will always be when this is the best you can do.
This is the kind of person who says stupid things knowing that she herself will never suffer the consequences of her cold dead soul.
sakabatou
(46,106 posts)She looks like the Wicked Witch in that picture.
struggle4progress
(126,093 posts)JustAnotherGen
(38,037 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,496 posts)GAH!!!!
niyad
(132,201 posts)she deserves.
keep_left
(3,209 posts)...and on fundamentalist Protestant networks as well (CBN, etc.). They feel emboldened now that they think they have taken over the doctrinal system, at least when it comes to religion. This is par for the course with these people now.
Aristus
(72,126 posts)Please, God willing, may it be the last...
niyad
(132,201 posts)614-466-8134, her Capitol number.
She was in the US House from 2005-2013, spewing her vile hate.
JohnSJ
(98,883 posts)Ohio Joe
(21,898 posts)This is just sick.
delisen
(7,350 posts)Very ancient pre- scientific thinking Devoid of empathy for women.
TomSlick
(12,993 posts)roamer65
(37,945 posts)MagickMuffin
(18,315 posts)Republicons are definitely busy bodies, always worried about other people lives instead of just being content to live their own.
But noooooooo, they have to ram their twisted idea of religion down everyone's throat.
sheshe2
(97,449 posts)They would have a private 'procedure' done. Then they would hunt the rapist down and discreetly silence him.
MagickMuffin
(18,315 posts)Now that would be something wouldn't it?
They never think things through, just spew forth their crap.
Evolve Dammit
(21,766 posts)Arazi
(8,881 posts)You would literally be forced to have a relationship with that man for the rest of your life.
milestogo
(23,059 posts)It would be an opportunity to prove your inner strength.
Buckeyeblue
(6,349 posts)Sadly, something happened to her along the way.
hunter
(40,668 posts)...the embryo of one of those genetically engineered human organ transplant pigs, perhaps.
It's an opportunity to save human lives!
https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/11/01/132110/meet-the-pigs-that-could-solve-the-human-organ-transplant-crises/
madinmaryland
(65,726 posts)Its been a while, but she is always waiting to bust some crazy talk.
canetoad
(20,738 posts)Have decided it's good practice to do SWOT analysis on rape.
Warpy
(114,585 posts)a pregnant eleven year old child faces to have her tiny body ripped to pieces giving birth to that rapist's final curse.
What the everloving fuck is the matter with these Christian Republican males?
wnylib
(25,902 posts)May she be "blessed" with such an opportunity for herself.
Warpy
(114,585 posts)FTFY.
birdographer
(2,937 posts)I guess I am a horrible person to wish such a thing on another woman, but clearly it's the only way she would understand just how despicable her stance is. How much hate does she carry around every day? Does she know what it has done to her face?
raising2moredems
(752 posts)The hypocrisy is beyond words. She and other mentally ill members of her party don't give a sh*t if the pregnancy ends in a live birth and isn't given up for adoption. They also don't care about kids who are hungry, have no medical/dental/vision, safe drinking water, sanitation, proper shelter with heat/cooling, good schools, and safety.
JohnnyRingo
(20,855 posts)I'm not sure if she actually puts that in her campaign, but it seems to work over and over.
AngryOldDem
(14,180 posts)Seems to me she was involved in some shady shit when she ran the first time. I see she hasnt changed, but then I shouldnt get too upset because a candidate for Congress here in Indiana said pregnancy via rape was Gods will. (Richard Mourdock.)
wnylib
(25,902 posts)on Justice Brown Jackson.
Jean Schmidt and her fellow Republicans need to have the support for rape label pinned on them.
Crowman2009
(3,520 posts)wnylib
(25,902 posts)the additional trauma of carrying the fetus to term and giving birth to it. They speak as if those 9 months would not add anything to the psychological damage of the rape itself.
Cold indifference to the well being of women and girls is misogynistic hatred.
Solly Mack
(96,913 posts)Jack-o-Lantern
(1,020 posts)XacerbatedDem
(511 posts)hunter
(40,668 posts)Otherwise she wouldn't believe such things.
My mom and my wife are both "pro-life" in the Catholic tradition but have always recognized that life can be a horrible messy business.
When things go wrong nature herself (or any god you choose) is the abortionist. More than half of all fertilized eggs are deemed unworthy by nature and disposed of without fanfare.
Alas, there are some problems nature doesn't discern, be they biological or social.
Nature is cruel. She only cares about the kids who live long enough to reproduce.
Some religions embrace this cruel reality, no matter the trauma.
Let the devil take them.
lastlib
(28,188 posts)These old farts must have knuckles of concrete--and heads to match.
O. M. G!! (insert sound of jaw hitting floor here) Where does the GQP get these knuckle-dragging TROGLODYTES?? This is beyond WEAPONS-GRADE stoopid!!
IcyPeas
(25,423 posts)StevieM
(10,578 posts)"She can choose to give that child to a loving family member or give it to someone else."
Keeping the baby and raising it is not an option in her mind. When a woman gets pregnant by rape, 50 percent of the time she has an abortion, 32 percent of the time she keeps and raises the baby, 12 percent end in miscarriage, and 6 percent lead to an adoption.
Republicans like Schmidt don't want women aborting pregnancies that are the result of rape. But when a woman gets pregnant by rape and decides to keep and raise the baby, they are angry with her too.
Let's be clear about what Republicans want. They believe there should be no sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage, and they want EVERY SINGLE CHILD born out of wedlock to be given up for adoption.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Shameful that this woman has been elected to the legislature.
twodogsbarking
(18,673 posts)ck4829
(37,673 posts)if they grew up to be someone who smoked dope and played Fortnite all day, subsisted on welfare, and subscribed to the anti-work subreddit? It is still a human life, right?
Children are going to be born if Roe ends just like how they are now and maybe this is how we should approach them: You're NOT going to be cheap labor for billionaires, you're going to have fun and extract maximum pleasure from life, we guarantee it.
VWolf
(3,944 posts)Texin
(2,851 posts)'Children' that get pregnant aren't of legal age to do anything - well, except for bearing the physical and future financial toll of pregnancy and parenthood. And at an age their very bodies are not mature enough to endure pregnancy and childbirth. They're not even of legal age to give consent. How horrific must a person (and WOMAN to boot) be to suggest that after being raped or having an adult (or older brother or cousin) commit incest and impregnate them is a fucking 'opportunity' These freaks are not even thinking about the physical consequences involved in being pregnant nor are they considering the burden of cost of pregnancy care and the subsequent expenses involved in giving birth and raising a child. These people are abominable.
kimbutgar
(27,230 posts)Getting pregnant from a rape is an opportunity is insane.
One fortunate thing is shes too ugly for anyone to want to rape her. Maybe shes jealous
Mad_Machine76
(24,950 posts)"Mean Jean Schmidt"?
Smackdown2019
(1,355 posts)This is law!
Crime Victims' Rights Act
18 U.S.C. § 3771. Crime victims' rights
(a) RIGHTS OF CRIME VICTIMS.--A crime victim has the following rights:
(8) The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim's dignity and privacy.
This state lawmaker just VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW!
867-5309.
(1,189 posts)Sounds like a plank for the GQP platform!
Caliman73
(11,767 posts)Rape is a crime of violence and violation. Women should not be forced to be pregnant and birth the child of their rapist. Women should not be forced in any way to carry any pregnancy to term that they do not want to. If you want that "opportunity" then make that choice for yourself. Don't tell other women what to do with their bodies asshole!
Evolve Dammit
(21,766 posts)It's continual gross attacks on women, POC, LGBT, educators, liberals, college students, Union members, free press, Democrats, books?!, our privacy, our civil rights, the Constitution, Micky Mouse etc. and it just doesn't stop. They just want to burn it all down, return to some era circa 1850 and welcome Vlad with open arms to work with the Orange Chosen One and rule under martial law or vigilante justice. Fake Christians and dangerous fascists.
Crowman2009
(3,520 posts)There is no sense in debating these evil pricks.
mcar
(45,977 posts)Who used to be in Congress? I see she hasn't changed her hideous spots.
sheshe2
(97,449 posts)She sure earned that title of "Mean Jean".
hamsterjill
(17,558 posts)Fucked up for a woman to be doing this to other women. Sick doesnt even begin to cover it.
Deviant and disgusting.
sheshe2
(97,449 posts)Fact is though, she goes beyond women to little girls tortured by rape or incest. She makes me ill.
hamsterjill
(17,558 posts)What happens to a woman that makes her want to see other females suffer? Its deviant and dangerous.
Shes got a hang up about sex, or rather allowing (consenting) women to enjoy sex. All of these weirdos have hang ups about sex.
sheshe2
(97,449 posts)She is both down to her rotten soul.
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)So I will just think it.
Response to sheshe2 (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
momta
(4,197 posts)The woman's (or girl's) child could grow up to cure cancer.
She never considers that the woman or girl herself could cure cancer--assuming she lives through the rape, is able to care for her own body, and gets the emotional and medical support she needs to survive it.