Shootin' From the Hip

Congressman Todd Akin’s thesis that women who are raped are less likely to get pregnant is the latest entry in the political gaffe festival. But is “gaffe” the right word for this?

We usually reserve that word for insensitive slips of the tongue. Some come out as unsuccessful jokes. But others betray deeply held beliefs. You can apologize for the wound such a remark can inflict, due to a lack of sensitivity, but you can’t erase the existence of the belief.

Don’t worry, ladies (and others) – this guy can’t get elected dogcatcher now. There’s only one thing that can save him: data. He’s apologizing, largely because he doesn’t have it. And if you listen to the experts, he won’t. You can read more about it on Politico.

But I did notice when I typed “rape resulting in pregnancy” into Google that I pulled up a site that actually offered data to support Akin’s argument. Of course, their data isn’t as strong as what the other side has.

As to his comment that raped women have some kind of “shutoff” mechanism to prevent pregnancy, well, I don’t where that came from. But do you want to bet there are others beside Akin who believe it?

I’m not apologizing for Akin, but I would venture a guess (no data) that most of us, even the reasonable among us, have some kind of wacky belief that is supported by the flimsiest of anecdotal evidence. Hopefully, as new data becomes available, we learn to surrender that belief to the power of the facts. Or if we can’t, at least shut up about it.

In the words of the old cowboy, “When you’re shootin’ from the hip, pardner, take the gun out of the holster first.”