The Mathematics of 'Legitimate Rape' and Pregnancy

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Mathematics of 'Legitimate Rape' and Pregnancy

Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 21, 2012 @04:53AM from the you-said-rape-twice dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "James Hamblin, MD writes in the Atlantic that it's unclear how common the misconception that women rarely become pregnant after rape may be, but remarks by Missouri Senatorial nominee Todd Akin that 'if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down' (video) may provide some benefit as a learning opportunity. 'From a holistic perspective, one might hypothesize that a woman's body could respond to the extreme stress and trauma of enduring rape in such a way that she would be physiologically more likely to miscarry (or not to conceive at all),' writes Hamblin. After all there is a multi-million dollar alternative reproductive health market aimed at optimizing an environment for conception so there could be something to a theory that the other, much darker end of that spectrum functions analogously. But that hypothesis doesn't hold, to any relevant degree. A widely-cited 1996 study from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology sampled over 4,000 women and found that the rape-related pregnancy rate was 5.0 percent and studies from other countries have reported the percentage to be even greater."

6 of 1,469 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

And this is tech news by tom229 · 2012-08-21 04:56 · Score: -1, Offtopic

how?

--
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Nice Political Flamebait by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 04:57 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Nice to see slashdot try to shoehorn this hot-button issue on a site ostensibily about news for nerds.
Bottom line, this isn't a math issue, its a political issue that you are using to drive your pageviews and flamewars.
-1 to timothy for this transparent attempt.
Parenthood rights for child rapists??? by hamjudo · 2012-08-21 04:59 · Score: 1, Offtopic

If the mother is under the age of consent when giving birth, you can be sure she was under the age of consent at the time of conception. So we can be sure that in 100% of those cases, it was statutory rape.
1. Re:Parenthood rights for child rapists??? by amicusNYCL · 2012-08-21 05:13 · Score: 1, Offtopic
  
  And then there are those of us who live in non-linear time.
  Are you trying to say that the parent is educated stupid?
  
  --
  "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Re:There are no Facts by Vinegar+Joe · 2012-08-21 05:22 · Score: -1, Offtopic

I wonder when Julian Assange will make a statement.......

--
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Re:There are no Facts by cpu6502 · 2012-08-21 05:56 · Score: -1, Offtopic

>>>place their bias out there are the truth. This is why you get Kentucky trying to get rid of evolution, stupid senators making dumb comments about rape...
...people who think government stimulus does any good. (Unemployment went over 10%... the bill was supposed to keep it below 8%.) Take a look at China's ghost cities. 64 million empty apartments that were built to "stimulate" the economy. All they really accomplished was a lot of money spent. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339536/Ghost-towns-China-Satellite-images-cities-lying-completely-deserted.html
From where I'm standing (independent) I see dummies on both sides of the political aisle. I hear falsehoods coming from people like Rush Limbaugh, but I also hear falsehoods coming from Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.

--
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"