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During the 2012 United States election cycle, in federal and state elections, a series of controversies arose as a result of statements by Republican Party candidates about rape, pregnancy, contraception, abortion, and related topics. The first and most widely covered controversy concerned Republican U.S. Senate candidate Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, who stated that pregnancy rarely occurs as a result of what he called "legitimate rape." Medical experts said Akin's statement is false, and many women's rights groups found the phrase "legitimate rape" demeaning. Akin's comments had a far-reaching political impact, changing the focus of political campaigns across the country to the War on Women. Akin was eventually denounced by politicians in both the Republican and Democratic Parties, most prominently by presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Following Akin's comments, additional controversies arose around other remarks made by various Republican politicians. The most notable of these was by Indiana State Treasurer and US Senate nominee Richard Mourdock, who said that life was "something that God intended", even if the pregnancy was due to rape. Some analysts identified the controversies around Mourdock's and Akin's comments, and those of other candidates, as a principal factor in their election losses. The comments may have had an effect on the national election results; many women voters supported Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. ==Background== Some American pro-life activists say that pregnancy from rape is either rare or impossible. Studies have shown that the prevalence of pregnancy from rape is the same or greater than pregnancy from consensual sex. The theory regarding pregnancy from rape originated with Fred Mecklenburg in 1972. While serving as assistant clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Mecklenburg published an article entitled "The Indications for Induced Abortion: A Physician's Perspective". He wrote that pregnancy resulting from rape is "extremely rare", that during rape sexual intercourse is not always successfully completed, that the probability of rape coinciding with a woman's ovulation period is low, and that rape-induced trauma impedes ovulation. Although it is false, the idea that trauma might function as a form of birth control has been advanced by anti-abortion activists attempting to secure an unqualified ban on abortion. For example, the former President of the National Right to Life Committee and physician John C. Willke wrote in a 1985 text that when undergoing rape, the female body can physiologically prevent conception. Revisiting his statement in a 1999 article, published in the ''Life Issues Connector'', Willke wrote, "There's no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape ... This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization and implantation." Willke, whose 1999 article has been posted on a pro-life website, said in August 2012 that rape, "is a traumatic thing" and women undergoing rape are "frightened, tight and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic." Several pro-life politicians have made similar statements. In 1975, Republican Senator Dewey F. Bartlett, tabling an unsuccessful legislative amendment to withdraw state funding for abortions, said, "A person who is raped very seldom becomes pregnant. Statistics show it is very rare." Pennsylvania state representative Stephen Freind said in 1988 that the odds of a pregnancy resulting from rape were "one in millions and millions and millions." James Leon Holmes published a letter in 1980 stating, "concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami". Statements on rape and pregnancy continued in the 1990s. In 1995, North Carolina House of Representatives member Henry Aldridge said during a debate to eliminate a state abortion fund for poor women, "The facts show that people who are raped—who are truly raped—the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant. Medical authorities agree that this is a rarity, if ever." In 1998, Arkansas state senator Fay Boozman lost a campaign for a US Senate seat after saying that fear-induced hormonal changes made rape victims unlikely to become pregnant. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rape and pregnancy controversies in United States elections, 2012」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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