The Sad Song of Tod Aiken

     In case you do not know, Tod Aiken is the Missouri congressman who is challenging Claire McCaskill for her senate seat in that state. This past week in a radio interview Mr. Aiken said that the female body has a way to shut down during a rape, preventing conception from occurring. This theory was first proffered by an associate of Planned Parenthood back in the early 1970s. It is, of course, completely without scientific or medical merit of any kind. Mr. Aiken apologized and said he was wrong, but that didn't stop a parade of Republicans and Conservatives from calling for Mr. Aiken to leave the senate race and allow someone else to challenge the embattled Ms. McCaskill.
     I think that Congressman Aiken should step aside and remove this unwanted distraction from this November's election. The very fabric of our republic is in jeopardy, and no one man is above the importance of the larger goal of shrinking government and reinforcing individual liberty.
     If I may be so presumptive as to articulate what I think was Mr. Aiken's larger point; there has never been and will never be a case of incest or rape where the guilt for the despicable act lies with the child that is the result of it. Aborting the life of a baby because its conception was the result of incest or rape is analogous to executing the child of a murderer. The only exception I would make for ending the life of a baby is when there is no other way to save the life of the mother.
     My pro-life beliefs are based in morality and science. A fertilized egg in a woman's womb fulfills the biological definition of life. And that life, if left to grow, will always create a human being. And now with what we know about DNA, that life in the womb has a different DNA signature than that of the mother. That makes it a unique human life. It is not, as the pro-abortion crowd would have us believe, just another part of a woman's body. The fetus within her, as a unique human being, has all the rights and protections that we have.
     I think if Mr. Aiken had said that an unborn child deserves protection no matter the circumstance of its conception, he would have been factually correct and would have garnered the support of those on the right.  He still would have faced a firestorm from the left, but that will happen to any Conservative who is expressing their beliefs. The sin that Mr. Aiken committed is one which those on the left commit on a daily basis, i.e., using fraudulent science and unsubstantiated statements in order to advance an agenda.