Akin not far off base in rape comment
wnd.com
by Jane M. Orient, M.D.
August 27, 2012
All decent people, including U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, agree that forcible rape is a heinous crime. Almost all would agree that illegitimate (false) accusations of rape occur - there's the case of the Duke lacrosse players, for example.
All reasonable people, including Todd Akin, agree that pregnancy can result from forcible rape - but there is scientific disagreement on how likely it is. A 1988 textbook, the second edition of "Human Sex and Sexuality" by Edwin B. Steen and James H. Price, estimates a 2 percent pregnancy rate. A 2012 textbook, "Comprehensive Gynecology," 6th edition, gives an estimate of between 2 percent and 5 percent and states that "in the experience of most sexual assault centers, the chance of pregnancy occurring is quite low." Estimates depend on flawed methods, with inevitable biases. An experiment to give an accurate figure is, of course, impossible. And does the estimate really matter to the woman who has been raped?
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