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Nearly a decade ago, a Republican congressman from Missouri was asked if abortion restrictions were ever to be enacted, should there be exemptions for cases of rape. The answer made Rep. Todd Akin a household name overnight. Speaking of pregnancy resulting from rape, Akin said, "It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down." His bizarre medical quackery was in service of an inflammatory argument: that abortions should be banned, full stop, even when a rape occurred. At the time, Akin enjoyed wide polling leads over incumbent Claire McCaskill in the race for a Senate seat and seemed to be cruising to victory. But the interview went viral, and many of Akin's Republican colleagues openly criticized him. The presidential campaign of Mitt Romney and then-Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) issued a statement disclaiming Akin's remarks and clarifying that "a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape." Akin lost the senate race by over 15 points, and in a state the Romney-Ryan ticket carried by nine points. Akin's career was over. But 10 years later, Akin's position has gone mainstream, and just as as access to abortion is quickly being chipped away in red states and the fate of Roe v. Wade hangs in the balance. When did anti-choice advocates abandon rape and incest exceptions in abortion bans? And why are Republicans, now, seemingly less interested in making abortion restrictions more palatable to voters? | | | President Joe Biden celebrated the confirmation of incoming Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday afternoon, saying she stood up to "verbal abuse" and "vile, baseless assertions and accusations" during her confirmation hearings. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking on the South Lawn of the White House, dedicated much of their time to celebrating the confirmation of the first Black woman on the court, but Biden also dwelled on how Republicans treated Jackson — the latest phase in a long-running, increasingly nasty battle between liberals and conservatives over control of the court. | | | As the conservative right digs its heels into the culture war of the day, the list of books challenged and banned across the country has exploded. According to the American Library Association, 1,597 individual books were targeted in 2021, more than double the number in 2020. The vast majority of the books challenged last year dealt with LGBTQ or racial themes. Right-wing politicians and parents alike have branded themselves free speech warriors who are tired of endless censorship by the liberal media. | | | Almost exactly one year after police in Alameda, California, killed Mario Gonzalez, the district attorney announced there will be no charges filed against the officers involved. In a report from the Alameda County district attorney's office sent to HuffPost on Thursday, District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said the "evidence does not justify criminal charges." On April 19, 2021, police in the San Francisco Bay Area city knelt on Gonzalez's back for nearly four minutes, until he died. Body camera footage, released later that month after an outcry from his family, showed officers approach Gonzalez, who was alone in a park with bottles of alcohol nearby, after a neighbor called about someone being intoxicated. Gonzalez calmly spoke with the officers for nearly nine minutes. Then the cops put Gonzalez's hands behind his back and pinned him facedown. At least one officer knelt on him until he stopped breathing and lost his pulse. | | | Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? — Subscribe here! ©2021 HuffPost BuzzFeed, Inc 111 E 18th St, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates
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