Editor:

Today is final day of Domestic Violence Prevention Month (Watch this http://bit.ly/WQEZrm). However, it is important to remember throughout the year that in the US, over 200,000 people are sexually assaulted each year, 9 out of 10 rapes happen to women and that someone is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes of every day. According to some politicians, this is God's intention?

Paul Ryan and 215 other Republicans cosponsored HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act", which would prohibit federal funding of abortions. The only rapes excluded were acts of "forcible rape", or of a minor, or of incest.

Of the 33 Republicans running for U.S. Senate, 30 are antiabortion plus their vice-presidential candidate. And at least 10, including Mourdock and Akin, oppose any exceptions in cases of pregnancy by rape or incest. They really believe that an 11-year-old girl should be required to bear her father's child?

If it was your mother or girl friend or sister or daughter that was raped in any other way (i.e. induced by alcohol or benzodiazepines (roofies) or any of the other kinds of rape that don't count as "forcible rape" under this bill), would you want to force them to experience that alien growing to term in their body and then force them to look at the rapist's face for the rest of their life?

Isn't the rape bad enough? Noone choses to be a victim of rape. Do you really believe Jesus would vote for HB 3? Apparently many Republicans do. It's the position they took in the GOP platform adopted at the Republican National Convention. Learn more at http://bit.ly/bRmieu

Gordon Clay
Brookings