My daughter was sexually assaulted by 2 or possibly 3 men after having been given a "knock-out" pill at a social gathering. She has been suffering with the traumatic shock every since.

Anonymous

My friend Judy was repeatedly raped by her brother who threatened to kill her if she told until after he was dead. He died, she finally told. Even though she is a very successful professional she has never been able to maintain a close relationship, have children and family. Her life was ruined.

Joanne, WA

My friend's cousin became pregnant from a rape and decided to keep the baby rather than have an abortion. She has since wondered, however, whether she made the correct decision. Aside from the cruel comments from racist people regarding her daughter's status as mixed race, she has also had to contend with people commenting on her lack of character -- because she had sex and got pregnant before marriage and is now a single mother.

Christina, NY

When I was young, a woman couldn't prosecute rape unless she was hurt badly, preferably badly enough to be hospitalized. At that point, she could charge the man with assault. From personal experience, I can tell you that few women - unless they believe they are about to be killed - will fight a larger and stronger man hard enough to hospitalize themselves. Most women will try to get out of that situation with as little damage as possible. That is a rational response. It's also survival instinct - if the man beats a woman up, she may not be able to run away when he's finished; if she can avoid being beaten, she may be able to escape. Thus, many women initially cooperate while looking for the chance to break free, and a good number of them escape after the fact with little more than bruising. I don't care what people who have never been forced to understand this from the point of view of a survivor think - if I say I don't want to have sex and a man overrules me and takes from me my right to decide what is done with my own body, that is rape, whether or not I am subsequently hospitalized, pregnant, obviously traumatized, or whatever. "She said no, but I could tell she really wanted it" is NOT a defense. It is an indicator of significant mental illness.

Anonymous

When I was in college, I went out one night with a guy my roommate had dated. I thought he wanted to ask me things about her, to get to know her better. He drove me to a far-away, out-in-the-country spot and told me to "put out or get out." My only choice was to have sex with him or walk 10 miles back to my dorm in the dark on the highway. Was that "forcible rape"? I think it was.

Anonymous

When I was 21 years old, my friend's boyfriend forced himself on me. Maybe I should have known better, but I was naive and thought I was safe, and since I was raised to be a "good girl," I was afraid of calling for help because of the embarrassment associated with how I got myself into such a stupid situation.

Anonymous

To Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I personally know 10 women from 3 generations who have been raped by men. That does not include the women I personally know who have been sexually assaulted by men. Whether rape and sexual trauma occurs at home, at a gym, in a church, on the streets or at a fraternity, these are life long traumas where the victims can never forget the physical violation of their bodies. Rape causes emotional and psychological trauma which results in the victim feeling shame, guilt, disgust, hysteria, devastation, depression, hatred, feelings of worthlessness, fear of people in general, failed relationships and other problems which have a long term debilitating and damaging effect on the victim's life. No man has any right to tell women what to do with their bodies no matter whether they are a rapist or a Congressman. No man has any right to force their decisions or values or principles on any woman. Any man who does is usurping the legitimate constitutional rights of women. Most women who are raped cringe at the possibility of anything that would remind them of the violent. perverse, and terrifying experience of being raped. Have you ever even considered that? Have you ever even considered how women feel in general? Unless you have been pinned down by some brute, some sick man who jams his penis into your anus, you have no right to judge women who have been raped. But if you want to experience the terror and debasement of being raped for yourself, just check into the nearest prison where men rape men on a daily basis. How would YOU feel to look at the face of your rapist, the man who violently sodomized you, every day for 18 years? How would YOU like to be forced to take care of your rapist's child every day whether you wanted to or not? And how would YOU feel if people in Congress were legislating ways to take away your right to decide how to take care of your body after YOU have been raped? Your party's lack of respect for women's rights actually will empower men to feel that they have a right to subjugate women to their will. Rapists will feel vindicated and that, perversely, Congress is condoning rape. HAVE YOU EVER EVEN CONSIDERED THAT? In fact, statistically, more than likely there are members of Congress who are rapists themselves. Perhaps we women should propose legislation limiting the type of prostate surgery which preserves men's erectile function as well as drugs such as Viagra. Then you would not be able to risk impregnating women and then telling us what to do about it. Most men refuse to take responsibility for raising their children as it is. Women take this into consideration when determining what quality of life a child would have if she were to bring it into this world. You men and women who are trying to force your views on the rest of us should mind your own business. You are free to make your own decisions and so are the rest of the women in this country. You were not elected to be paid by our tax dollars to restrict our abortion rights. It is our body not yours. Too many women have already been violated by men. How many men do you know who have been raped by women? How many women do you know who are trying to take away those victims' Constitutional rights?!! How many elected female representatives are proposing legislation to take away Constitutional rights for any men? Until you yourself have been raped, you have no right to judge women who have and to police the private decisions they make. Why don't you spend your time trying to reduce crime and the societal problems that are at the root of crime instead of attacking the victims of crime?

Anonymous

Sister raped by a powerful university professor who called her into his office to discuss her paper. She was only 19 and she got PREGNANT! He tricked her and betrayed her. She had no recourse except to derail her education and give up her highly competitive scholarship as she was unsupported by the University in this. She got an abortion but any "empathy" that she needed only came from the health care professionals.

Anonymous

Rape is not limited to just forcible voilent rape. If a girl says no, it means no. most guys understand that, however, I myself have been raped. I held sex in high regard in my youth and would only make out, and on 2 separate times, a guy has tried to convince me to have sex and as I repeated no, they put it in while firmly holding my arms down. I didnt fight, but I did cry during and after and begged them to stop. My self value went down cuz I reserved sex for when I was in love, not for anyone to just take. I felt used and cheap, and it was painful since it was unwanted. But my story is just one example of rape. I have friends who have been raped by people they trusted while they were sleeping, only to wake up to the vulgar act and unnable to get them off. And another friend who was only 12 with no concept of sex, yet a 17 year old took advantage of her and it scarred her for life. she became bolemic, suicidal, and it affected her future sex life. Rape has deep lasting effects phyisically and emotionally, and though forcible violent rape is by far the most horrible type, that is not the only type. If a girl was to get pregnant by any of these types of rape, it is in no way acceptable to say she wasnt raped. Just because it is common, and has happened to many women, doesnt make it ok. No means no, stop means stop, and a women can never be blamed for the rape or for getting pregnant.

Anonymous

One time a boyfriend physically forced me into sex while I sobbed for him to stop. I was not physically strong enough to stop him. Another time, a man I worked with harassed me with constant graphic comments and continually pressured me to have sex with him. I hope and pray my two daughters will live in a more respectful world.

Anonymous

My mother was raped by a family friend when she was 15. I was sexually assaulted by my older brothers growing up and was almost date raped. Since Rep. Akin a refresher in biology (or perhaps he did not finish high school) I will go ahead and explain that had my date successfully raped me, both of those instances could have led to pregnancy.

Anonymous

I was the victim of date rape. I was a college student and could not afford to go to a private OBY/GYN.

Anonymous

I was stalked and then raped by a man who worked with me and was good friends with my then boss. When I told my husband about it, he beat me and I had to seek sanctuary at a battered woman's shelter. I went to a rape intervention clinic for treatment and was told by the intern to inform my boss because rapists usually attack women again and again. And since I worked with the guy and would likely see him again I was at greater risk. So I met with my boss and told him what happened expecting him to fire the man but since the guy was a friend and in the country illegally my boss thought he would get into more trouble if the company went through legal channels. I was "let go" as a result. Since the man was from a country that had a higher than average rate of HIV I was put through further humiliation of having to be tested. I lost my marriage, my job and every sense of being safe and protected by the law in this country because of that rape. So don't kid yourself that your wife or daughters are safe here and that if the unthinkable happens that they will be able to find justice. Rape changes lives forever.

Anonymous

I was sexually abused and molested as a 1st grader by my step father - it has taken me over 60 years to heal what I consider to be an unspeakable crime - and inexcusable crime which you seem to sanction! I pity you. No compassion or understanding of the pain and suffering many have endured because of insensitive people like you!

Anonymous

I was raped when I was 17 years old by a fellow high school student. We were at a party with many other friends for a senior graduation event. We ran out of soda and chips and they asked for volunteers to go get some more. I volunteered, as did the boy. We got in his car, went to get the soda and chips, and then, to my surprise, he turned the opposite direction from town and drove me way out into the countryside. I had no idea where I was. I only knew that there was no one around for miles. The boy then suggested having sex. I refused and told him I wanted to go back to the party. He said if I didn't have sex with him he would leave me there in the road. I still refused. He then pushed me back in the seat of the car, put his hand to my throat and demanded that I comply. I thought I was going to die right there on that desolate road. He used his free hand to yank down my pants, breaking the zipper in the process, and forced himself on me. I remember screaming in pain, crying, and closing my eyes, just wishing it would all just go away. When he was finished he got off of me, removed his hand from my throat, ordered me to pull up my pants, then threatened me with my life if I told anyone about it. He then drove me back to the party. I was visibly shaken and my friends all asked me what was wrong. All I could do was get in my car and leave. I never told anyone until years later, when I tearfully relayed the incident to my husband. If I had become pregnant as a result of that rape, I would hate to think I would have had no option to abort the pregnancy. I don't believe any man can fully understand the emotional trauma of rape, and I don't believe a room full of men should be able to pass judgement or decide for a woman what she should or should not be able to do under those circumstances.

Anonymous

I was raped by an aquaintance at gun-point. I despise that man to this day, and to carry his baby would have been a terrible thing for both the child and me because I would have thought of that terrible night every time I looked at his child. The child would not have been loved in the way he deserved to be loved.

Anonymous

I was raped , along with my 2 sisters, by my father. It happened between the ages of 5 to 11. He also tried to rape me when I was 21. He was very smart, an attorney with many powerful friends in the community, I think the incest stopped when he started seeing kotex & tampax in our bathroom. He knew better than to impregnate his own daughters. When he tried to rape me at the age of 21, he knew I was on birth control (thank you Planned Parenthood!) He put me in the hospital twice from forced sex. The 1st time was for a crushed urethra, my little 6 year old body was too small to "fit" hiis penis. The second time I was 10 or 11 (one does try to forget this stuff). I had to have emergencey exploratory surgery, I was cut all the way down my stomach to my bikini line.. The results were, all my internal organs had been pushed upward & I had massive infections especially my appendix had gotten caught & twisted up around my bladder. I spent 10 years in therapy & came out a stronger survivor but the scars on my psyche & my body won't ever go away. If I had been impregnated by my father I know I would have committed suicide. As it is I have attempted suicide due to the trauma & I still harbor suicidal ideation. This happened in the '60's & it still amazes me & my therapists that no doctor ever became suspicious. I was out of school sick with infections more than I was in school for the period of time of the incest.

Anonymous

I was at a party and went to bed after drinking too much alcohol. I later woke up with a man penetrating me and was told to keep quiet and was too disoriented, embarrassed and ashamed to do anything. This man had used protection, but I had not given consent and wasn't able to because of the state I was in from being so intoxicated and blacked out. If he hadn't used a condom I could have become pregnant because of the time in my cycle was right for it. This was basically a date-rape but it was not consensual and therefore is rape none the less. Additionally, my best-friend's sister is raising her now 18 month old son in California who was conceived through rape. Her life and the life of her husband and pets were threatened if she went to authorities, and so she carried the baby full term and now raises the son of her rapist with her husband and their new daughter. Rape happens to innocent women and some of them are amazing enough to raise a child that was brought into this world through an act of hate and show them love anyways. Akin especially should be apologizing to those women and children that were born in this way!!

Anonymous

I have personally been sexually assaulted, although I was not raped. I do, however, know other women who have been raped and became pregnant as a result of that rape.

Anonymous

For Todd Akin and other small minded conservatives: A friend was raped and she got pregnant. There is no way to 'shut it down'. B

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and other conservatives, I have recently heard Akin's comments on "legitimate rape" and as soon as it reached my ears, I literally got sick to my stomach. I myself had been the victim of an attempted rape (By who? None other than my best friend at the time.) If he had been able to penetrate and complete intercourse with me, and I had gotten pregnant think of how many people that would devastate. Not only would it make my life nearly impossible (At the time I was 17, and I would have had to drop out of high school) but also my parents (Who would have had to care for me, or kick me out and have that burden to worry about my wellbeing) and my boyfriend (Who would... I don't even know. Think if your wife had gotten raped and pregnant. I can't even imagine the sadness and rage that the partner of a sexual assault victim would have to carry) Not only do those comments deeply hurt me and many other women, it devalues THEIR lives by forcing them to carry children. Long story short, an abortion should be a choice between their family, significant other, God and them.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives; You can't imagine the fear and horror of sexual assault. It errodes your very being, the trauma lasting for years. It's not a joke or a game. It's someones life. If this crime had happened to someone you loved; your mother,wife,child, etc. would you still take this position? I think not. Words you've uttered are hurtful and damaging to the very core of a woman. A glib I'm sorry is disrespectful to all the women who have experienced the shame, trauma and lasting scars, including me.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I am a male survivor of rape. Rape is an act of violence. Period. It is inconceivable to me, and other survivors, how anyone can differentiate rape to different levels. Rape is rape. Mr. Akin's so-called "apology" is not accepted. God forbid any of your family becomes a victim of rape. Perhaps only then will you realize what rape is all about.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was 14 I was raped repeatedly by a man who used psychological, physical, and religious warfare to keep me quiet. He told me it was God's will, it would kill my mother -who fought cancer with everything she had for four years- and that I would never be forgiven if I sent my own pastor to jail. He used guns, knives, miniture blow torches, ropes, gags, and whatever he could find to keep me utterly terrified time, after time, after time. He would wait until I was shaking in fear and nauseas with shame every time. I didn't want to feel, didn't want to exists, let alone get pregnant by the man that stripped me of my dignity, contaminated my body, perverted my faith, and desimated my hope in the world. The day he was caught and arrested I was told I was pregnant with triplets. Your ignorance is embarrassing, your politics are dangerous, and your souls are void.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, This is not my story, but I will tell it for the one whose story it is. I know a woman who was raped, by her uncle, at the age of 13. She became pregnant. She aborted the child. While abortion is certainly a sad thing, I defy you to tell me that a 13-year-old child should have been further traumatized - maybe killed - by being forced to bear a child to her rapist. This would have been particularly traumatic as the rapist was also a family member. Your attitudes are ignorant. You want blanket legislation, when there cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution to this problem. You also appear to want to turn your specific religious beliefs into universal law, which is specifically forbidden by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States (Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion...). You are free to believe whatever you like, and live in accordance with your beliefs. You are NOT free to impose your religious beliefs by law on those who may or may not agree with them.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Thirty years ago I was the victim of date rape and subsequent pregnancy. I am eternally graterful that a SAFE abortion was an option. As a male, you have absolutely NO idea how horrifying date rape is. As a physician, I can assure you that a woman's body does NOT have a way of "shutting those things down." That is the most preposterous remark made since the Dark Ages!!!!!!

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Rape is real. Here is my story. I was 19. Went to my family physician for a college physical. This man had been our family doctor since I was a toddler. He even delivered my younger brother 16 years before. He was one of our family's "saviours" by helping to treat my older brother who was gravely ill. This doctor was well-respected in our community. I was in awe of him. When I was at his office for the college physical, he moved my appointment to last. He told his nurse/receptionist to go home. He then raped me.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I'm 62 now but still wear the scars of sexual assault by a family member at the age of 10. This is something that is not forgotten by any women or child that is raped, fondled or what ever else is done to them by sicken men. How it can be trivialized by a man of religious believes is beyond my comprehension. You, Mr Akin should speak with women who have suffered such hurt and real medical doctors and psychiatrise who treat this cases so you can be correctly informed. Respectfully Mrs O

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was raped more than once by an abusive and controlling boyfriend. It was only with the help of my local Planned Prenthood office that I was able to get the help I needed to remove myself from that relationship. I was already taking the Pill (thanks to the services offered by said PP office), so thankfully, I didn't get pregnant, but if the Pill had failed, I absolutely would have terminated the pregnancy.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Although I am a victim of sexual assault, let me tell you about another story close to me. My family was great friends with the family next door. Us girls played daily with each other and our families even went on vacations together. One day when the older daughter was a junior in high school and her sister was around 12yrs old, the sisters had a huge fight. During that fight, each sister told the other, "you have no idea what I've done for you." As it turned out, they were both speaking of years of rape by their father. They both thought they were saving their sister from the horrors of rape and molestation of their father. Had either daughter gotten pregnant, what would this have meant to you? The girls "wanted" to have sex with their father? The girls enjoyed their father coming into their bedroom in the middle of the night to molest them? No way....rape is rape. There is nothing romantic about it. There is nothing dignified about it. It's the thing that night terrors are made of. It steals your dignity, self worth and innocence. Had I or my neighbor girls gotten pregnant due to our rapes, I would have made the difficult choice to abort as I would hope my neighbor girls would have. To make such statements you have made, really just insults those of us who have survived the horrors of rape whether or not a pregnancy resulted.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, It pains me to have to make any of this public because it is truly none of your business or anyone in the political realm. But you need to understand that your statements are traumatic to those of us who are survivors of rape, whether or not we became pregnant. I can also tell you, as a clinical social worker, there are many women who are raped, pregnant and are raising these children who were born out of violence pure and simple. Rape is a complete violation of the body and the mind. It is truly no different than any other kind of assault. It does, however, have implications far beyond the violation itself. You may not become pregnant but, like myself, contracted a sexually transmitted disease chlamydia, for which there is no cure. As a result, afted giving birth to my second child, it was found that due to my having had this sexually transmitted disease, there were now precancerous cells in my cervix which had to be removed. Let's talk dollars and cents, not the trauma to my body, mind and spirit. Think of all of the health care costs involved in the treatments of my chlamydia and removal of precancerous cells. Are any of you prepared to pay for this? I know that you all have mothers or caregivers who raised you, many of you have wives and daughters. How do you have the nerve to stand up in front of the American people and claim to have any knowledge of what it is like to be a woman. Absolutely NONE. Spreading lies and biological inpossibilities, as if a woman's body knows from where the sperm comes, is too dangerous to be addressed in the public domain at all. Just stop and think with your heads, the ones with the brains inside not the other.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, On New Year's Day 2010, I was sexually assaulted. Despite the time of year and the activities associated with that holiday, I was sober, wearing a knee-length dress with my chest covered, and went home with someone I considered to be a dear friend. That friend was a man who was visiting me in the hopes that we would end said visit in a relationship. I cared deeply about him and we had put months into this friendship, so I felt I had no reason to question his motives or feel that I was at all in danger. However, as the night went on, the man in question proceeded to force himself on me. He pinned me down in my own bed and forced himself on me. I asked him many times to stop, but he wouldn't. It wasn't until I said, "I need you to stop or I'm going to hate you in the morning" that he finally stopped. I was relieved that it was over, although I was beyond confused about what had happened. The man in question, though, proceeded to make me feel incredibly guilty for refusing his "show of affection." I did not sleep much that night. In the morning, he forced himself on me once again and after having made me feel guilty the night before, I did not try to stop him because I didn't want him to get upset again. It was the most awful experience of my life and I have never felt like less of a person. That is a feeling I continue to struggle with and two years later, I still don't feel safe around men most of the time. This has been a horrible burden to bear, especially when I'm constantly faced with politicians such as yourself who tell me that I deserved what happened to me or that my rape was not "legitimate" because I knew the man who did that to me. You've got to be kidding me. When I hear people, in the public eye or otherwise, speak of rape in such a flippant manner, it personally offends me. I cannot even begin to fathom how you can make statements about whether rape is legitimate or not; rape is rape. The end. There is no questioning its legitimacy. -A woman still putting the pieces back together

Anonymous

You are so right congressman Atkins. All those young men abused by Mr. Sandusky and those adolescent altar boys raped by men of the cloth in the Holy Catholic Church that were raped - their bodies shut down and their future and their spirits died but they didn't become pregnant. You lucky men. You and like minded conservatives are ignorant and an embarrassment to our country

Wreath, MA

While living in San Francisco I was date raped by someone I was dating. It was the middle of the night while we were sleeping. He said that it had happened before - that he does it in his sleep. I was lucky that I didn't get pregnant, that I didn't contract an STD. I was lucky, but that doesn't mean I wasn't changed.

Amy, NY

When I was in third grade, an eight-grade friend of my brother's molested me and it changed my life forever. I'm now 77 and the incident still haunts me. Then, just a few weeks ago, I learned that my 48 yr old daughter was raped when she was 15 in the back of the store where she had an after school job. I understand why she never told me; I never told my mother. We both thought it was our fault, because -- in my case, I disobeyed my mother who told me to keep the screen door hooked; in my daughter's case, the man told her "you have been asking for this, so don't blame me." My daughter, as many 15 yr olds are, was (and still is) beautiful, truly charming, outgoing and friendly. Her behaviors were turned against her as being provocative and inviting to be raped. She was convinced that she had actually invited the rape by being so outgoing. It changed her life, too. We have both suffered in ways that are not describable.

Barbara

When I was a 17 year old girl, on my way home from community college, a man threw a rope over my neck and kept it there until I passed out. When I awoke, he was sitting on top of me; one hand on my mouth and the other around my neck. The experience was horrific and I still suffer from PTSD at the age of 61. I didn't complete college because I was afraid he'd find me, he took my belongings with my name and address. In fact, fear kept me from being a full member of society and completing my bachelors degree until I was 38. At 41 I completed a masters degree and at 61 I've just completed my doctorate. I am a gifted educator, many awards attest to that fact. Just think of what I could've done had I never been attacked, just think of what I could've done had I been able to complete my degrees without fear.

Roxanne, WA

When I was 20 years old and working my way through college, I was raped by a stranger while leaving work. Fortunately for me, I didn't get pregnant or contract aids, both of which could have happened. Anyone, like you, who dismisses this particular aspect of pregnancy based on so called "religious reasons" have no clue how this affects victims of rape. I am 53 yrs old, and this vicious act still colors my life in spite of therapy. Imagine if I had gotten pregnant and been forced to have this child, which is what you advocate. In my opinion, it would have greatly compounded this heinous act, and made me a victim again. A gift from God? I don't think so.

Denise, DE

Was drugged and raped by a high school teacher. Being unconscious probably aided in my survivaland a great support team with my high school teachers and counselors.

Gavin, NC

Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives-- I was raped at Church by a youth group leader when I was 16. The 30yo CPA body-builder tricked me into being alone with him by telling me to stay after the meeting "...because God has a special message just for you that I couldnt share during the meeting." Once I figured out that God had no message for me, I could not get away. The rapist sounds like YOUR kind a "man"...MISOGYNISTIC, disrespectful, controlling, manipulative, cowardly, committing his sins in God's name! Just like you. He destroyed so much of me. And your statements reopened that trauma. Shame on you. Shame on your mother for not teaching you to be respectful of all people. And, in case she never mentioned it...women ARE people. There is NO LEGITIMATE RAPE! If I had been forced to carry my rapist's baby that would have caused the pain to be insurmountable. You clearly do not understand how destructive rape is. Rape is not sex....it is a horrifying violation of a person. You--Todd--have no right to force a woman to bare the added burden of a pregnancy on top of the emotional and physical and spiritual trauma. It is NOT YOUR CHOICE whether she carries the baby...it has to be hers. She's already had any choice about her body ripped away from her. Whether or not to carry a baby severely compounds things. The choice has to be hers...anything else means you are just like the scumbag rapist...FORCING YOUR DESIRES ON HER! I am also a mother of two...girls! Being a parent is a huge responsibility. It also takes lots of money and time and effort....and to do that job well, a parent has to want that job. To FORCE someone into that job is cruel and is not in anyone's best interest.

Valerie, TX

To Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives-- I survived a brutal sexual attack. Go ahead, stand in front of me and make another ignorant declaration to my face.

Liz, NY

This happened 49 years ago and this is the first time I ever told my story. He was older and I was flattered that he asked me out...I wasn't especially attractive and I felt special. We didn't go out.We chatted while he drove to a local state park which had closed for the winter.He was very insistant ,his manner was threatening and I knew I was defenseless . So I did what he wanted. Saying "no" wasn't an option and,yes,it was rape....and I never stopped feeling that my bad judgement let a predator take control. I'm sure in 2012 rather than 1963 it would be the same...no blood,no bruises,no crime.

Jane, CT

The terror, the deep fear, the degradation, the pain, wanting to run but can't, screaming, trying to fight, biting, yelling for help, gagging with his fist in your mouth, you can't get away, wriggling, twisting, trying to kick, to hit, to just get away, trying to convince him to stop, please, please just stop. Then it's over, but his friend wants to do it, too, and you're still terrified and there's a knife at your throat and they cut a little and there's blood and sweat and tears and you can't ge away and your heartis beating so hard, your throat hurts from trying to yell, your lips are bleeding, and you feel his dirty dick against your leg, and you flinch away but you can't get away and you feel dirty and ashamed and want everything to stop, everything, you want to die..you just want to die... And they stop and laugh and make fun of you and throw things at you and kick you and you don't know what to do or if they're going to kill you and why doesn't someone come to help you? Oh, Godddddddd........not again..............

Teresa, TN

The GOP rape of public policy matters more than what happened to me. GOP leadership put Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) on the House Science Committee, the guy who says women can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape"(?) He's also said the federal government should not subsidize school lunches for poor children. What a great spokesman for GOP social Darwinism, as well as scientific ignorance. Get him off that Committee.

MB, NC

Sexual assault (rape) is properly classified as a violent crime. It always involves unequal power used when there is not consent and may be a family member (incest, spousal rape), a date or someone sufficiently older to not be consensual (statutory) in addition to on the street, by someone who illegal entered a home, etc. It is something one needs to recover from and can radically interfere with appropriate parenting if one is among the more than 30,000 who get pregnant this way every year--creating a cycle of on-going harm to victims. You are proving the difficulty trusting others after such experiences is justified by your un-Christian inhumanity.

J, CA

Rape is a degrading, painful experience. Show some respect to those of us who have been victimized.

Lee, VA

On Feb. 4 1981 I was mugged and rapped at gun point in Brooklyn NY. I became pregnant and, thank heaven, was able to receive an abortion! Women have a right to power over their own bodies and no one should have a say on how we handle our own lives! We live in a democracy where "freedom" is supposedly the rights of the individual. What makes men think that they should control what a woman does with herself.

Carol, NY

My sister was raped by a man who attacked her in a public women's room. She was a teenager. She got pregnant. At the time abortions were illegal in America. My family had to come up with the money to send her to Japan for a safe abortion. I was also raped, as an adult, by a man who threatened me with a gun.

Fay, CO

My mother, as a 18 year old girl, was raped by a GI after going to the USO Canteen to do her patriotic duty and dance with the soldiers during WWII. My mother was quite a beauty. One soldier followed my mother and her older brother on their way home. This soldier knocked my uncle out and raped my mother. Let me assure you she had no desire to be raped. And she did get pregnant, even though she didn't want to. Her parents were horrified. She chose to have an abortion, very risky in 1944. I only learned of this story after my mother's death. She was so ashamed about this, she never even told my father.

Keith, CT

My friend gave birth aged 12 following rape. The authorities wouldn't let her have an abortion, saying 'She'd got herself into trouble.'

Christine

My freshman year of college I was sexually attacked by someone who claimed to be a friend. He told me he was going to rape me, and then attempted to do just that. I was lucky. I was able to fight off my attacker before he succeeded in raping me. Despite the fact I was not "legitimately" raped, I have suffered from periodic nightmares for many years. That sexual assault changed the way I thought about myself and every other person I have met since that day. Two weeks after that attempted rape, my college roommate was raped by a stranger while sleeping over at a friend's house. She was able to get access to the Morning After pill, which prevented pregnancy, but her life and self-respect were largely shattered. She struggled with depression, denial, and even suicidal thoughts. She could barely get out of bed most days; there is no way she could have managed a healthy pregnancy as well. There is no way she would have survived the added trauma of a baby via rape. Neither one of us were equipped for that.

Beth, WV

My first rape was when I was in college by a man who may have been an undercover police officer. It was not about sex, it was about power and domination. I left college, that town, and never completed my college education. My second rape was in the final days before leaving my abusive alcoholic husband. I was making all preparations and getting a restraining order in place to protect myself and my baby boy who was less than a year old. When he raped me I was impregnated and I was a mess. My very catholic OB/GYN told me he didn't think I or the fetus would survive the pregnancy as I was in such an emotionally unbalanced state and he recommended very privately where I could have an abortion should I choose. I was and am very grateful to him. After that, I had my tubes tied so that I could not have any more children. It is believed that I was molested as an infant by a relative so I didn't have the skills to see this coming or know what to do when it did. This is not black and white, people are complex and so are these situations. Because of the lineage my son had some rather serious emotional disturbances as well, what about that? Not even my good Republican Christian parents were willing to care for him more than an hour or two. And women will go back to back room abortions and we have already done that. I will fight for the rights of all women and rape survivors the remainder of my days.

Nancy, NV

Men have said for decades that women have "asked" for it and gotten away with rape. Children have been victims too. There is something wrong when a gender justifies violating other people.

Carol, WA

men are oppertunist when it comes to sex. they are not always moral,honest and exploit your trust.

Lea, NY

I've been raped - and trust me, it was "legitimate" in your terms. I've also had numerous students who were raped by a family member or family friend, and they became pregnant (which I did not - luckily). So, are you going to tell me a 12 year old who is raped by a stepfather or uncle and becomes pregnant doesn't deserve to get an abortion if she want to not raise her assaulter's child????? Seriously?????? Suppose your daughter, or sister, or mother, was/had been raped and they became pregnant - would you truly love and care for that offspring? Would you seriously believe that they could have prevented the pregnancy by shutting off their cervix????? And do you really think this is scientifically real?????

Phebe, VI

It happened to me twice, about 45 years ago, both times by men I knew. It was very upsetting, a betrayal by individuals I thought "respected" me. I did not become pregnant, but I was so shocked and upset that I could not speak about it to anyone. Rape is a violation, and there is no such thing as "legitimate rape."

Carol, NY

I'm a victim of rape and incest, and to think I would have been forced to carry a child of one of my abusers, if I had gotten pregnant from these attacks makes me sick to my stomach. the thought of being forced to be further traumatized by carrying that child, and then either raising it or having it ripped from my arms is unbearable.

Jean, MN

If women could magically control their uterus and vaginas, people like you would never have children. Having been raped once, and having escaped various attempts of sexual assaults, let me assure that if we had this magic-powered uterus, we would not have chosen the fear, the terror, the humiliation, of having another human being force their control on us by abusing our body. And you (and your party) are now doing that with words.

Karen, PA

I was told that if I wanted to pursue charges I would have to sit with him and discuss the situation (both of us were New Yorkers but the rape occured at our University in Pennnsylvania).

Maureen, NY

I was sexually assaulted by my 19 yo cousin when I was 13. I kept saying "no" over and over and over. My little sister was in the room and I didnt want her to understand what was going on, so I didn't hit or physically fight my cousin. I was also using my hands to make sure the blankets were covering us so my sister couldn't see anything. I didn't even fully understand what was going on when he put his penis in my hand, because there was only the moon lighting a bit the room, and because I didnt really know how sex works. I also couldn't believe he would do this. I didn't understand what my hands were touching. I didn't understand what my mouth was touching. I didn't even understand the words he was using. The whole time I was scared for my sister. He was the hero of my parents. He couldn't do anything bad. I didn't know what I had done. I was scared he would do it to my sister too. I was scared to be pregnant. That was 20 years ago. I still have flashbacks every day.

Kosciusko-Morizet, CA

I was sexually abused from around the age of 3 or 4 up until the age of 14 by a relative. I was never able to speak about it to anyone until I was in my mid-twenties. This has impacted my entire life, from daily flashbacks and an inability to function in normal relationships and I'm now in my mid-fifties. My own daughter was also subjected to an attempt at molestation when she was around the same age I was, and this took place at a daycare - by a 13 year old boy who should not have been there. Not only that she was also subjected to being touched again in the 1st grade - in the classroom, by another student of her own age! No one who has not been "touched" against their will, can understand the impact it has on the life of the victim. I've had a number of women friends who've been sexually assaulted and a few who became pregnant as a result. Their choice was to get an abortion, which thankfully was legal, so that they did not have to put their lives at risk to do so. Trust me when I tell you - the female body does not "shut down" to act as way to prevent pregnancy during rape. Every rape is real - there is no such thing as "Legitimate Rape" - RAPE IS RAPE!

D, PA

I was repeatedly raped by my father from age 12 until I left the house at 17 to take on a full time job and go to college. You would call it incest. Incest IS rape. Rape is rape. Rape of the mind, rape of the body, it is Rape. You have no idea the fear and manipulation that is used on a rape or incest victim. I was fortunate to have had contraceptive pills prescribed by my mother's doctor for menstrual cycles that were so heavy I was dying of anemia at age 13. Without that I would have been pregnant. I did not come away unscathed. I carry the Herpes virus due to his heinous acts. I have spent years healing myself and moving beyond that dark period of my life and I am a successful woman in all aspects of my life. During my late teens and early 20's I worked in a job that did not provide health care insurance. Planned Parenthood was the only place I had to turn to for annual vaginal exams (ovarian and breast cancer runs in my family) to get pap smears and oral contraceptives, which were necessary in order for me to live. Without them, due to fibroids and polycystic ovaries, I would have died of severe anemia. Yes, it is medically possible to die from anemia. Males like todd akin and paul ryan have no idea what women go through or they wouldn't sponsor bills that redefine rape to leave out certain groups of women, or vote to gut the Domestic Violence Act. What is really sad are the females in the republican party who are self righteous and contemptous of other women not of their "kind". Those females betray their own gender by subscribing to and actiong on the beliefs of males like akin and ryan. It is truly sad. I am ashamed to be an American and mortified to be a Christian if that's what it means to be a "good christian".

Lauri, WA

I was raped many t times by a cousin and suffered sexual assault by family members. Although I did not get pregnant, it was only because I was too young. You're an idiot for thinking that pregnancy does not occur in "legitimate" rapes. What the hell is a "legitimate" rape and how does it differ from an "illegitimate" one? To me, rape is rape and wh do think you are to think you have the right to judge ANYBODY?

Sherry, LA

I was raped in the summer of 1976 when I stopped at a friend's apartment in Chicago to pick up things I had stored in her building's basement. It was a bright sunny Saturday morning in a fairly quiet neighborhood. A guy noticed I was going in and out with boxes, keeping the door propped open. He evidently followed me in, closing the door behind him, and choked me down to the ground. He raped me then. At the hospital I was examined and given an abortive pill. Thank God I did not get pregnant. Say Todd, was that a "legitimate" rape??

Johanna, NH

I was raped in a Burger King bathroom in the early morning before there were any customers. I was in the bathroom with the door locked, and heard the door open. The clerk had opened the door and held a knife to my neck. I didn't fight or struggle, but I still consider it a "legitimate" rape. But I was raped anally, so I guess I should thank my attacker for not exposing me to the risk of pregnancy. I would have had an abortion without a second thought.. In fact, five years earlier, in 1969, when I was married with two children, I had an illegal abortion. WE ARE NEVER GOING BACK TO THOSE DAYS.

Anne, PA

I was raped in 1975 by a male college student whose dorm room was on the same floor as mine. It was terrifying. He was someone I saw every day and he seemed "normal." It was the middle of the day. He offered to help me put up a shelf in my room. When he was done forced me down on the bed and raped me. I told him to stop and he wouldn't and nobody was around to hear my cries for help. Fortunately I did not get pregnant and if I had, how would that have been my fault? He must have really hated women. Back then women were discouraged from reporting it and it would have been his word against mine. I regret it to this day as I wonder how many other women's he's assaulted and hope that's he's been caught.

Janice, IL

I was raped by two men, many years ago. It was legitimate rape, meaning I said, screamed "No!" and fought. Nor did I "invite" such treatment. My only invitation was the fact that I was a woman. What can you do when there are two men bigger than you? I did not tell the police, because I knew from others' experiences, that they would not listen to me.

Chris, OH

I was raped at a time when a raped woman couldn't report the incident. She wasn't believed if she did. I resent these men who are trying to bring women back to that time.

Janet, FL

I was raped at 5 by a cousin was that a legitimate rape asshole????

Sherry, NV

I was not raped. I was molested. By an uncle. I was terrified, froze, was unprepared for how to deal with the situation. My mother, when she found out, said not to tell my father because he would have hurt my uncle. I have no idea if she confronted my uncle or not. I know my uncle went after other female cousins. Something must be done to stop men from thinking it's okay to overpower women. The ramifications are devastating.

Joan, CA

I was molested at 13 and raped at 19. Neither was my fault. To punish the female of the species for not being male is wrong. The disrespect of society to women starts small, with ignorant comments made by the like for Akins. There were 916 anti-women bills introduced by the GOP in 2011 and over 1000 in 2012 so far this year. The GOP has refused to take steps to allow for equal pay for women. I am old enough to remember when a woman did not have the rights of her own body and now the GOP is trying to return us to that day. It's not a long walk from this to where men in Pakistan are held in high esteem for committing honor killings. The day the GOP stops crusading for a fetus while forgetting the needs of the child and the mother who birthed them is the day I will consider returning to being a republican again.

Dawn, IA

I was married for years to a man that kept me a prisoner in my own home. He would pick me up by my neck, and squeeze until I passed out. Then he would rape me. He would also assault me in my sleep. I became pregnant with my first child during an assault. I chose to have my son, and my son has suffered every day for the choice that I made. My former husband tries to use him to get back at me, and doesn't take proper care of him when he has him. He teaches him fowl language, and tells him to lie to me, and "keep his secrets for him". Mind games are a form of abuse that is difficult to prove in court. I am not allowed to fully protect my child from a man that tried to kill me several times. This is due to the laws that protect the abuser, not the victim! And the ignorance of Judges in the family court system.

Carrie, GA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded Consevatives. The date is 1924, you are 18 years old, a young German immigrant. You have left family and friends to follow the American Dream. You work as a Nanny to a rich family. At a party they hold at the house, one of the family members accost you, threathening that if you fight or scream, he will say he caught you stealing and you will be sent to jail. Now on top of the humiliation, shame and fear of reprisals, you find your self, 18, alone, unmarried and pregnant. And because you are unmarried and pregnant, you have lost your job because they can't have "that kind of woman" working around the children. So what kind of RAPE is this???? At 21, I too was accosted by a date. Because I had gone to a dance with him, what right did that give him to require "payment" as he called it. Fortunately the outcome of my scenario wasn't as horrific as my grandmother's. My saving grace was that if needed I could have aborted anything if my contraceptive failed me.

Aj, HI

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: July 17, 1984. He wouldn't take no for an answer. He was stronger than I was. He overpowered me in my tiny basement apartment. He forget it, but I never have and never will. Should I have had to live with that for 28 years? And for the rest of my life?

EM, MD

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: In 1971 I was raped at knife-point by an intruder in the building where I lived. It was my 25th birthday. This occurred before Roe v. Wade and before the society was more informed about the needs of survivors. I thought I was going to die. I really couldn't think of anything else but doing whatever I had to so that I wouldn't die. After it was over, I spent some very anxious time worrying about what would happen if I did not get my period. Luckily for me, I didn't have to face that consequence. The police were called and only male detectives were on the case. They took me to the hospital for an exam, and I was in shock and could not stop crying. A male doctor told me to shut up. He said "If you don't shut up, I'll give you something to make you shut up." When I got back home, my phone rang at about 4 AM. It was another male detective who asked me if there was penetration. When I got back to work a few days later, my male boss asked me why I didn't kick the guy. (In other words he implied that I could have prevented the assault.) I took valium for awhile, and when I walked down the street, even in broad daylight, I kept looking over my shoulder. Two months later I moved to a building with a doorman. They never caught they guy. I am now 66 years old. I remember it like it was yesterday. I consider myself to be lucky. I was able to go on with my life and suffer relatively few scars. I married and had a child, and I had a good career and many friends. However, after many years of therapy, I still suffer from PTSD which shows itself in my dreams. Even all these years later, I suffer from recurring nightmares linked to the assault.

Judy, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I was raped by a family member when I was only 17. It was horrible, and I went to the hospital afterwards so that they could collect the semen as evidence, but the man got off with only a year of probation for assault and battery of a minor because it was his first offence and I had no witnesses! So much for fair punishment of a rapist. Unfortunately, I got pregnant by my sister's husband and chose not to have the baby and ruin my life and hers. Fortunately, abortion was legal in IL without parental consent, without putting me through any further trauma and allowing me to attend college and have a successful life.

Alice, IL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I was once raped. I was 18 and at a party. It was the first time I had ever been drunk, and I started not feeling well and I was so tired, so I went to lie down on someone's bed. I passed out. When I woke up he was on top of me. I pushed him off and left, went home. But it had already happened and I will never be able to forget it.

Nicole, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I have been raped in the past, do not wish to share my story, but I am appalled that you and the "like-minded" conservatives of the Republican Party are under some notion that if women are truly, aggressively non-submissive, and are in such horror and torture, that they cannot get pregnant. This is just plain unjustified, ludicrous, insulting, and physically wrong!! That's what my personal experience and scientific knowledge allows me to tell you that you and other like-minded Republican, radical religious righters, etc., are incompetently placed within our government and oh so easily able to speak untruths about and make inadequate decisions, speeches and serve on committees that you have no right being on. You have no legitimate reason to serve our country, your states, and be given the ability to vote on laws that include the human beings or animals of this United States of America! Kick yourselves to the curb, please!

Kayla, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: About twenty years ago my then fifteen year old daughter was the victim of an aggravated sexual assault. During the rape examination i asked the doctor about the morning after pill. He said, "she won't get pregnant from one sexual contact." Well he was wrong. She did get pregnant and we went through a very difficult time with her. We got her information on adoption, keeping the child and abortion. She ultimately told me she couldn't take care of herself yet let alone take care of a child and she chose abortion. I went with her and held her hand. I got her follow up counseling and thru the years have discussed it with her. She has never regretted her choice. I bear animosity toward that foolish doctor and anyone who makes decisions for a woman or girl that may have a major impact of their life. I had to work long and hard to keep this experience from scarring my daughter. The male involved spent the next three years in prison.

Joanne, MA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: When I was stationed in Japan, defending this country, I was sexually assaulted in my barracks room. I went through proper channels and even testified against him at an Article 32 hearing. Guess what happened? They didn't charge him and I was forced to see my rapist daily. The nightmares are finally dying down and the counseling has helped enormously. Rape is a violation of the mind, body and spirit. Since my attack, the slightest noise wakes me and I'm constantly on the alert even when I'm in a place where I know that I should feel 100% safe. I pray that you don't have or plan to have daughters. Because if you daughter ever came to you and told you that she was raped and you asked her a question as insensitive, irrelevant, and grossly ignorant as "was it legitimate?", that you would realize that you had damaged that relationship beyond all hope of repair.

Mary, GA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: Thirty-two years ago, when I was seventeen, I was attacked, beaten, and raped. It happened at night, and I never got a really good look at my attacker, so no one was ever caught (and frankly the police did not seem too terribly interested in pursuing it.). Now I realize that being a male, pregnancy was not one of the things I faced as a result of my brutal attack. Post traumatic stress disorder was, however, and it took years of counseling to finally put the whole thing in the past where it belongs. Having said that, all I can tell you is that if I were a woman and became pregnant as a result of rape, I would demand the morning after pill immediately and if I did not get it I would find someone who would perform an abortion as soon as possible. Some women might choose otherwise. I am not a woman and can only imagine. But at the end of the day the choice belongs to the woman, not to some legislator who will never have to face the prospect of raising their rapist's baby. Frankly I find your position on this issue, and that of those who think as you do, obscene. Obscene that a fertilized egg should have more rights under the law than a woman who has been violated in the worst possible way a person can be violated. Obscene that the legislators who are trying to push forward this ideology are mostly MEN. And obscene that you and your ilk all seem to be in love with the fetus so long as it remains a fetus but as soon as it is a baby, if the mother is poor (read: "lazy") the poor kid could starve to death for all you neo cons care.

Scott, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I was raped by a man who had a PHD and was working at prisons in my state. We had dated for a few months before I fell ill one night and when he came to my apartment, I told him that I was too sick to see him. He came in anyway and within a few minutes stripped my clothes off and raped me. My son was asleep in the back bedroom so I didn't yell out. I fought as hard as I could to fend him off, BUT I WAS SICK! After the rape, he said "I don't know what got into me. . ." and I told him that if I ever saw him again I would kill him. That is not something I have ever said to anyone. I was serious. I returned to work and for months afterward would not smile or talk to anyone. It took years of therapy to deal with the psychological problems caused my this "date rape". Only my Therapist knows who it was.

Marilyn, OK

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I was brutally raped by my husband of 4 years. That was the worst of the other abuses before I escaped from him.

Jenny, FL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: Rape has ruined my life. Childhood rape destroyed my family relationship and warped my mental health forever. Happiness and successful relationships are infinitely more difficult for me. Rape is always illegitimate. Statements such as yours, implying "legitimate" or "illegitimate" reflect not only a medieval attitude of misogyny, but inutterable insensitivity for the humanity of over one half the human race. Your vile attitude and unethical conduct is disgusting and indicative of abject ignorance if not hopeless stupidity.

Delphyne, IL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives. It's been over 40 years, but it's still very vivid in my mind when I was raped. I was 15 and this guy asked me out, my friend said he was a really nice guy, she had been out with him before, so I went. We were supposed to go to a high school football game, but we never made it. He parked somewhere and the next thing I knew he was on top of me and if I didn't comply he said that he was going to knock me out as he made a fist. That was my first experience with sex. Which carried over to the next week in school that whenever I walked down a hallway where him and all of his guys friends hung out, they would make a lot of lewd comments as I would walk by. It was humilating. It affected my relationships for many years after that. I'm pretty sure his life was unaffected. I'm guessing I wasn't the only women he did this too. Was that really ok for him to do to a 15 year old girl?

Evelyn, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives. My body is my own. After suffering from an assault at 18, I was forced to make a choice between having to carry the child of a man who had already forcibly violated me in the most intimate and intense way a person can possibly be violated, and having to continue to carry his flesh for at least 8 to 9 months. I couldn't do it, and I am glad and grateful I did not have to. It was the one thing I was able to do to reclaim my body and my life. I do not have regrets to this decision, not to this very day after 12 years of college, a doctorate, and turning 31 years old. To speak of women and assume they are lying, naive, too ignorant to understand the facts of their own body, life, and situation is to violate them all over again, and insult them to boot. Please stop this verbal violence against women immediately. It has gone too far.

Nicole, NE

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives. I was sexually abused by my older brother from the time I was 7 to when I was 14. He was constantly in control of me, in control of my actions and my thoughts. He could threaten me at any time because of a code he thought up, so that he could tell me what to do in front of everyone, our whole family or any of our friends, and no one would know that he was threatening me with coming into my bed that night and forcing himself on me. I never told anyone because I was certain I would be in horrible trouble--he had told me that if we were found out I would be punished. At around 12 I got my period, and it was only because he overheard me talking to a friend of mine about it that he knew to start using condoms. I never got pregnant, but that did not lessen the pain, the terror, or the loss of my self to his control when he raped me daily. He raped me, no matter your definition of "legitimate" or "forcible" rape.

Chloe, CT

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives. I was 13 years old and out with a girlfriend. She was older and wiser (I thought ) than me and I wanted desperately to impress her, so when she wanted to go to the race car track that my mother had forbidden me to go to, I lied to my mother and went anyways. Unfortunately it turned out to be the worst night of my life. A cute boy of about 16 came and sat with us and offered us beers. I had never drank before but I tried it. The boy seemed to be interested in me and I was flattered. My head was a bit woozy when he asked me to go to the parking lot with him to get more beer. Once in the parking lot, he kissed me. But while he was kissing me an older gentleman showed up and then the two of them together dragged me out into the woods nearby and, as the younger boy held me down, the older man ripped off my clothes and brutally raped me. Once he was through with me, it was the younger boy's turn. I saw in the boy's eyes that perhaps he was actually sorry for me but the older man also had control over him. Eventually I passed out and was left in the woods. I finally came to and managed to find my clothing and put it on and found my friend, but even though there were cops nearby, she wouldn't let me tell anyone what had happened because she said we were both going to be in big trouble (it turned out her mother didn't know where she was either.) I was driven to her home and spent much of that night in the shower trying to somehow get clean again and sobbing on the floor of the bathroom floor. I didn't tell anyone about the rape but was desperately worried that I might be pregnant (luckily that did not happen.) It wasn't until I was 16 and suicidal and finally getting some counseling that the story came out --you see I was ashamed. I thought because I didn't scream and say no that the rape was somehow my fault. A counselor finally explained to me--" You were 13--it you had run naked to these two men and yelled "FUCK ME" it still would have been rape.This is not your fault--you were 13." So let's jump forward about 30 years now--I now have two beautiful teenage daughters that I want desperately to protect them from ever experiencing what I went through. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, my older daughter was raped--raped by her boyfriend's brother. She was at his house visiting her boyfriend and watching a movie and her boyfriend headed out for a bit with a friend. She knew the brother--she didn't think anything of it. And then the brother started telling her of his feelings for her, which were not reciprocal. Eventually he forced himself on her. She was wearing a dress, so he didn't have to rip off her clothing, she wasn't left alone and bleeding in the woods, and she wasn't 13--but it was still RAPE. There is nothing about my daughter's rape that is any less of a violation that what I experienced. She needed years of counseling to recover from it. And I still grieve that she ever had to go experience that.

Cynthia, VT

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, when my 17 year old male cousin herded my 8 year old self and my 6 year old sister into the bathroom and then locked the door so he could show us his penis without any adults barging in, I honestly didn't think much of it. My cousin made us promise not to tell anyone what he had done, and in my innocence, simply didn't think twice about it. It wasn't until I was a bit older that I began to realize how twisted my cousin had been, and decided to tell my parents. My mother was very supportive of me and my sister, but my dad, the uncle of this disgusting cousin of mine, chose to pretend nothing ever happened. What happened next was beyond shocking: my relatives began to spread the falsity that me and my sister had "forced" my poor cousin into showing us his penis! Yep! Two small children "forced" a teenager to herd us into the bathroom, lock the door, and then pull his pants down for us so we could admire his penis and torn, dirty underwear. Unfortunately, too many times the victims are portrayed as the aggressors; we were "asking for it." What about the men who committed these heinous acts? Any idiot who can casually write off rape and inappropriate sexual incidents needs a huge reality check...in addition to some common-sense lessons in contraception and human anatomy. Please stop spreading these horrific lies and show some respect! It hurts on a deep level to know that someone who is supposed to be a community leader follows the path of the aggressor instead of the path of a true leader.

Eva, RI

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I knew a girl in high school who was being repeatedly sexually abused by her foster dad since kindergarten. She finally got pregnant at 15, but had no one to turn to and lacked the resources necessary to travel to another state to end the pregnancy (it was illegal in our state at the time, but thankfully no longer is). The thought of being forced to give birth to and raise an unwanted child resulting from such a traumatic and painful experience eventually led to her suicide. She left no note. I may still be the only person who knows why she killed herself. I will never know. If you think that this is a rare event, you are wrong. If you think that pregnancies resulting from rape are also rare, you are wrong.

Carmen, NM

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I am a survivor of sexual abuse and 2 rapes. My abuse began as a second grader by an older male babysitter. At 14 I was victim to my first rape. At 18 my second rape. Now 38, I am beginning to find the strength to try deal with the trauma and personal wounds these events caused me and the relationships in my life. It has taken me a divorce and 30 years to even start to talk about it.

Maia, OR

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was 17 (this was in 1967 and with I had no history of any sexual activity at all) I was attacked, brutally raped and beaten senseless by a man almost a foot taller than me as I left class. I suffered from multiple wounds and decades of after-effects, both physical and emotional, because of this attack. Your comments show a total lack of understanding and empathy towards all women everywhere. I find what you said incredibly offensive and insensitive. This controversy brought up the kind of mindless thinking that was more common in the 60's and made me almost ill that you could be so ignorant as to utter something like this decades later, when I thought the world had progressed just a little. Shame on you!

Judith, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When a daughter, a senior in high school and working at a nearby Howard Johnson with a male college student, known to the family, who asked if he could bring her home from the neighborhood pool where she was with her siblings, she said ok. He didn't bring her home; instead took her elsewhere and raped her...which resulted in a pregnancy. Fortunately it was after Roe v Wade and a D & C was done. charges were not placed because of the trauma already done. Counseling followed. This experience jarred the entire family to be aware of the trauma that rape brings. No one believes it could happen to t hem or t heir loved ones - but it does. One is reluctant to speak of these experiences because of the judgment of others who have no concept of what rape does. Does everyone have to experience this horror before they "get it?"

Shirley, VA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Spend time with rape survivors and you will come to realize that your opinions are not based in fact and your uninformed comments are damaging to society. As a rape survivor I can tell you that your comments are offensive and misrepresent the violence that occurs when a rape takes place. Forced sexual assault is something you never recover from; oh you can function, but you are NEVER the same again. In 1992 I had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was beaten & raped on a beach in San Francisco. I am alive to tell my horror story, but it is not one I like to tell.I share it now because I can not believe that the US government has representatives that believe a raped woman MUST bear a child conceived in violence.Forcing a woman to have a child that was conceived in the violence of a rape is antithetical to American Freedom & Liberty. If you do not know this you need to get out of Government. Society needs people to speak out against rape & the violence that is associated with it. It appears you have failed to understand this basic tenant of civilization. RAPE IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE WAY TO BRING LIFE INTO THE WORLD !!!

Lauranne, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, One of my best friends in the world was sexually assaulted at a college party and it wasn't until she was telling me about it that she realized that it was assault thanks to people like you. Because she knew the attacker and had been drinking she initially thought that it was just a bad experience even though she repeatedly told him no and tried to get him to stop. When she told me about the whole thing I told her that she was date raped which took time to set in- again because of people like you who blame women for any sexual assault you can rather than blaming the men who think this behavior is ok or the society that enables this.

Chrystian, WA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Once upon a time I had a dream that I would grow up to help people. I would play dolls as a doctor or veterinarian or firefighter. I grew up believing that I would do great things. My potential was blindsided by a pedophile who raped me at the wee age of nine years old. At the time, I wasn't even old enough to get my military ID cards- a great milestone for one so young. The rapist was a relation- my grandfather. My 20 years since that time have been fraught wih difficulties. Your laissez faire attitude towards rapists and pedophiles is insensitive towards victims. Your callousness towards victims is a disgrace to America, Justice, and Freedom. Two-thirds to three-quarters of all rapes are committed by someone the victim KNOWS. Rape is destructive to families and individuals. People who are raped must heal from this trauma. They should not be forced to take responsibility of a human life which the rapist fertilized. If a rapist passed a Sexually Transmitted Disease to the victim, would you deny her medication and treatment? Whether its an STD or a pregnancy, the victim should not be held responsible.

Linden, CO

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, My father sexually abused me starting when I was an infant. I didn't remember it starting that early- I remembered being in Elementary school and him telling me" don't tell your mother, she will want a divorce" which of course worked because that is a 6 or 7 year old's worst fear. Later, when I was an adult, he told me he abused me since I was born. He stopped when I was 13 or so. But if he hadn't- I think you can imagine what might have happened: pregnancy. Your attitude toward sex abuse and rape is deplorable and shows just how far up your own ass your head is. I feel sorry for your daughters and hope for their sake you take some of your wasted campaign contributions ( 'cause no one with a brain will elect you)and pay for their therapy.

Laurel, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was the victim of sexual abuse from my mother's boyfriend when I was 15. He entered my bedroom during sleeping hours, assuming I was asleep, and put his hands on my crotch on top of the blankets. If I had not jumped out of bed and ran to my mother downstairs, he probably would have continued to molest and possibly rape me. I could not and would not have carried his child, if it were illegal to abort. The memory of the molestation sickens me, no way could I live with the product of such an unspeakable act growing inside me. Circumstances were pretty tough back the and I would have probably ended my own life.

Raelyna, TX

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was raped when I was 18 at my first college party. I had never drank alcohol before and some predatory men took advantage of the situation. They gave me alcohol and when I went to the bathroom, I was pulled into a room by one of them. I was able to get out but by that time, they had did the same to my friend, whom I was visiting. I couldn't find her, I didn't know where I was and I had no where to go. The same man convinced me that I could stay in his roomate's bed and I could find her in the morning. I feel asleep alone and woke up to a man having sex with me. I never consented and I was preyed upon. Luckily I didn't get pregnant but if I did, there is no way I would have wanted to have that child. I know that when you say the word "legitimate" you don't mean women who've been in my situation, the vast amount of rape victims. Its insulting and every day, since your statement I've constantly relived my rape. Please stop and resign.

Julia, PA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I have waited 45 years to tell my rape story. I was 17, an honor student at a Catholic High school; I worked summers at a Der Weinerschinitzel to earn money to pay for car insurance to my parents just to drive their car on weekends. Upon graduation the following June, my parents said they would buy me some sort of car so I could drive to college or work. Back in 1967 cars did not come with tape players and I wanted to buy one before the car was mine but they were expensive and making $1.30 an hour did not add up to much even after working all summer since I had to hand over $800 to my parents every Sept. We had a friend who was in my brothers grade, a year behind me, who was a member of our parish and he said he had some used tape players that I could buy cheap and all I had to do was go with him to pick out the one I wanted for $30. On my lunch break from rolling hotdogs, I went with him to a room where he supposedly stored things he was selling to friends. As soon as I got into the room, he locked the door and began tearing off my clothes. I ran to the door and the windows and started pounding my fists on them to make noise. He grabbed my legs and dragged me back into the middle of the floor. I saw fire in his eyes, I could smell an animal smell in his sweat as we wrestled and I yelled for someone to come and help me. He put his hand over my mouth and told me to be quiet and just let him do this or he would kill me. I thought he would not really do this if I tried to reason with him reminding him that my mother knew his mother through church and school, we used to carpool with his mother and this was not what I wanted to happen and started to scream louder. That is when he put both hands around my neck to choke me and held me down. I dont think I blacked out but I can remember hearing my screams turn into just raspy little sounds in the distance like when you try to scream in a dream and cannot make the sound audible and the sound of my own pulse in my ears. He held me like that until I was quiet and then raped me. I figured being quiet was what he wanted and the sooner this was over, the sooner he would let me out. Eventually he let me up to get dressed and drove me back to my work. My young male co-worker could see the welts forming on my neck and the scratches on my face and knew something bad had happened. He was the only person I have ever told and only an abbreviated version. That night I was supposed to have dinner out with my parents and I had to wear a turtleneck sweater to cover the red marks all up and down my neck. The scratches on my face were covered with make-up. I dont know if this is a legitimate rape according to Todd Akin but it almost ended my life. I had thoughts of my school days spent working so hard to keep my grades up with a bright future ahead and by letting someone rape me was the only way out other than end up murdered. I thankfully did not end up pregnant but if I had I would have committed suicide. At that time my parents owned a business and were well known in town and church. Telling them about this incident would have broken our parish apart, thrown guilt and gossip upon them and maybe ruined their business if I had come forward and accused that boy of rape. He was a star quarterback of the Catholic boys high school, not a very bright student, sniffed glue on the weekends and had a father who would beat the hell out of him. He acted out his frustration with his upbringing by taking control of the only thing he could_girls. Ten years alter I read that he had turned to a real life of crime, doing drugs and robbing gas stations and eventually going to jail for killing a gas station employee. For all I know he may be dead by now. I forgave him to free myself.

Jo, OR

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I am a rape survivor. It has been 13 years since that traumatic life-altering event. The evening started with me helping my male friends make it to the bar safely as they celebrated before the new senior college year began: I dropped them off and picked them up, I had volunteered to be their designated driver. Unfortunately, my kindness was to be repaid with devastating results. I learned that one of my male friends who was also a resident advisor from a male dormitory had wanted to leave with a girl he met at the bar and the other male friends prevented this from happening. As a result, I became the target of his unfulfilled sexual desires. My protests did not matter, my voice was ignored, the years of our friendship were immediately erased as he pressured and pushed. I felt trapped, helpless, betrayed and did what was necessary to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. I was unable to graduate college that year as planned, since I had to withdraw from classes that semester and return home. I sought the support of the local Women's Center and Rape Crisis Counselor, with her help and the love of my family, I had the courage to press charges with the University Justice System. I did not feel it was safe or fair for this man to continue being a resident advisor and after facing him in a meeting with the University, the officials agreed and removed him from that position. At the time my motivation was to protect other women, I am proud I was able to stand up like that, but not everyone has that oppurtunity or ability. My healing was a very long and difficult 5 year journey: I was in therapy and on medications to handle the PTSD. Although I had survived the worst in those first 5 years, the affects of that night will stay will me for the rest of my life. Not only for me, but my family too. Actually, this is the first time I have ever publically discussed my experience, but the time is right to make sure you have some comprehension of the impact of your statements and beliefs.

Kara, PA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, After I was gang-raped, I spent several weeks of trauma only to be even more traumatized by a pregnancy scare. Unfortunately, there is no magical shut down of our systems to prevent pregnancy in the case of any rape "legitimate" or not. I was one of the lucky (?) ones - I was not pregnant and therefore did not have to face that horrible choice. I am your daughter, sister, niece and/or cousin, but I never had the nerve to tell you of my horror - even though I was attacked by 2 men off the street at knife-point (not to mention the slugs to the head they gave me to "show they meant business"), I still felt it was somehow my fault. 35 years later, I still suffer depression and PTSD from this attack and this attack on women's rights has caused a relapse for me. I am near suicidal at the idea that there are people who would have denied me the right to terminate that horrible pregnancy if it had come to pass, and would perpetrate that kind of cruelty to any future victim.

Kerry, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I am the survivor of a gang rape. I am horrified by your complete lack of understanding of how sexual assault impacts a woman's life. Two men broke into my house, tied me up with rope and raped me for hours. Then they stole my valuables and car which they damaged badly. I lived alone for decades, out of fear of being raped, again.

Betty, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was eighteen, I was date-raped by a guy I was seeing. It was our third date, and we had gone out to the movies. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, to be precise. That might not seem like a significant detail, but I won't ever forget it. In the car after the movie, my date decided that we had reached the point in the relationship where we should be having sex. He didn't feel the need to consult me in this decision, however. He ripped my jeans and panties off, without bothering with my sweater or t-shirt, and shoved inside me, right there in the mall parking lot. He didn't bother with a condom. He was much larger than me - I was a petite, slender girl, and he was well over six feet tall with giant hands that seemed like they coud rip apart phonebooks. I tried to push him away, but I couldn't. I begged him to stop, told him I wasn't ready, but he kept going. He was on top of me, holding me down, and I couldn't escape. It was incredibly painful. It was impossibly humiliating. I didn't, and still don't, understand how we had ended up there. We had met at school (we were seniors in high school), and after a couple of weeks of flirting, he had asked me out. Our first dates were normal and fine. In fact, I remember being pleased and surprised that on our first dates, he hadn't tried anything. I had dated a couple of not-so-noble guys, and I was happy that he seemed different. He didn't give me any indication as to what sort of person he really was until it was far too late. After he was done raping me, he told me that he loved me. He told me that he wanted to be with me forever. He drove me home like everything was fine. He didn't seem phased by what had happened. He harassed me for about a year after that. He didn't seem to understand that we weren't in a relationship anymore. I moved out of the state to go to college, but he would call and text me at all hours of the night. When I finally told him that I had started dating someone else, he became angry and defensive, calling me a bitch and a whore and soliciting his friends to harass me as well. I changed my phone number and moved to a different apartment. I don't know what would have happened if I had stayed in my hometown, and I thank God that I was in a place where he couldn't reach me. I was fortunate in that I did not get pregnant, although the next month was the longest and most stressful of my life as I waited and waited for my period to come. I was fortunate in that my STD tests were all negative. I was fortunate to have access to women's healthcare as well as mental healthcare.

Cassandra, UT

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was a 20-year-old college student, I was sexually assaulted by a stranger in a parking lot. I have shared my story with many people, and nine times out of ten, when I come forward with my story, someone with whom I'm speaking volunteers a sexual assault story of her own. Women (and men, but especially women) have been raped in greater numbers than you can imagine, and the damage to one's psyche in the aftermath of such an event can be tremendous. In order to properly heal from this trauma, women need to talk about what happened to them. For women to feel comfortable coming forward, our society needs to be well-educated about rape. We need to shift away from a culture of victim-blaming and objectification of women toward one where women and men are considered equals. While this shift may take decades to occur, talking openly and honestly about rape (and getting our facts straight) can only move us in the right direction. It sickens me to think that someone who sits on the House Science Committee is spreading faulty information about the biological process of reproduction in the aftermath of a rape. This misinformation perpetuates a culture of victim-blaming, since it implies that a pregnancy resulting from rape is somehow the fault of the rape survivor because her body didn't "fight off" the pregnancy. Representative Akin, your words are a testament to the fact that sexual assault education - and sex education in general - is desperately needed in our society. It also upsets me, Representative Akin, that you and many other conservative politicians oppose abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Had I been impregnated by my assailant, I would have terminated the pregnancy, since I wouldn't have been a willing participant in its creation. I don't believe the decision to abort a child should be taken lightly, but I also don't think that such a decision should be made by male politicians who can't possibly relate to ever finding themselves in such a situation. Although I'm shocked at the ignorance of many in political power at this time, at the very least, Representative Akin, I'm glad your words have opened up a long-overdue dialogue about sexual assault. In the meantime, you should resign from your position immediately. Sincerely, Diane Wohland Brooklyn, NY

Diane, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was 15 I was date raped. I was with a man who was 24 years old and it was our first date. I told him several times during the evening that I would not have sex with him on that night. I said this in front of friends and there was no mistaking my intent. My friends left "Mike" and me alone in a room and we kissed for a while. I had never kissed before so this was a heady experience for me. Kissing progressed and I was very quickly out of my league. I said "no" several more times. I did not fight and I've dealt with years of shame from that. Mike was more than a foot taller than me and out-weighed me by at least 60 pounds. Quite honestly, I was scared out of my mind by what was happening and I thought if I tried to do more than say "no, please stop" that he might get angry and hit me. When it was over I laid there waiting for him to fall asleep so I could sneak away. At no other point in my life have I felt so much pain, anger, disgust, fear, and self-loathing. Several weeks later I was more than a week late getting my period but I was lucky and was only late. Had I been pregnant I would have gotten an abortion. Had a legal, safe means of abortion not been available to me I would have used any object with a point I could have inserted far enough up my body to get the job done. I would have thrown myself down a staircase. There is nothing I would not have done to have ended that pregnancy. One way I wasn't lucky was that Mike left me with Human Papilloma Virus. I suppose not the worst STD to get but still one which can never be fully expelled from my body. Mike did not attack me in a dark alleyway. He did not hold a gun or a knife to my body. He did not hit me or drug me. Mike did ruin my faith in my ability to judge a person. He did make me fear men. He made me fear physical intimacy for almost 10 years. He did take my innocence and ended my childhood. He did make it so that I had to disclose to any future partner that I have an STD that I could possibly transmit. He did commit statutory rape. He did rape me.

Rebecca, MD

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was 12 years old I was raped by a 16 year old boy I went to school with. I was drugged and couldn't remember anything, I just woke up with the blood of my innocence all over my clothing. At the time I was so humiliated that I didn't tell anyone, not even my mother, until years later. Thankfully there where emergency services provided to me to terminate the pregnancy that was handed to me so awfully, without my parents needing to know. After years of counseling and the support of people around me I'm now able to live a normal life, one without fear of men, or being alone, or anything else that stood in my way of living a normal childhood. When I heard your statement, I was not only appalled by your lack of knowledge of basic biology, but I was also very offended by your use of the term "legitimate rape". Does the fact that I don't remember the details of my assault mean that it wasn't legitimate because I hadn't the ability to say "No"??? Writing this letter to you is getting the best of my emotions and its very hard for me to relive the events so I will make this short. Please step down from your position on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. It is obvious that you know nothing of science, or you wouldn't have made such an ignorant remark. Also, please recognize that as a man, you will never have to deal with the obstacles I face as a woman, you know nothing of the mental anguish I had to go through as a victim of such an atrocious attack on my virginity. Therefor, I feel as though you have NO authority to make any decisions when it comes to the health of me and other women who share my experiences. I've dealt with the shame, depression, and grief long enough, please do not drag this on further by pressing your religious beliefs into law. Need I remind you that we have separation of church and state for a reason. I find that the fact that I need to explain these things to you absolutely ridiculous, you would think that we would appoint people to powers, such as yours, who have knowledge of what they are legislating over.

Ashley, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Two months ago I was invited to the home of a male "friend" for dinner and to work on a project we were doing together. While at the home of this man he insisted that I drink the wine he had chosen to go with the dinner. Not wanting to be rude to my host I drank a little of his wine. After dinner I insisted on getting to work so that I could finish and get home before it got late. It became clear he was not interested in working, and it wasn't at all clear what was happening! About an hour and a half after drinking the wine I became very confused--unable to speak and think normally, and I was all but paralyzed. The next thing I remember is I realized he was angry and he was pushing me around--to what end I really don't know, but I was not only afraid of being raped, but also of being killed. I managed to get to my phone and call my cousin/friend to stay on the phone with me until I got away from this man's house. I don't know how I managed to get home safely. Thankfully there was very little traffic at the time. I passed a hospital and considered stopping, but I was worried about being unable to think clearly and mostly wanted to get to the safety of my home. I called the police the next morning to file a report. They chose not to investigate after I told them who the man is. I went to the hospital emergency room, but there was no drug detectable in my system by that time.

C, KY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was the victim of marital rape in the 1970s, before the public consciousness had been raised about rape and before there was any kind of support for sexually assaulted women. I was taking the pill for birth control, so no baby resulted. This violent crime against me colored who I was as a human being, how I reacted to my husband who only had to raise his eyebrow to remind me he could overpower me at any time, and nearly killed my soul. There were no support groups, men still thought--as you apparently still do--that if a woman was about to be raped, at least she should relax and enjoy it, and there was no law against marital rape; it was not even a term in use at that time. Therefore, I buried the experience in my subconscious for many years, had 2 more children w/ my husband (we already had one child) and finally did divorce him 2 decades later, when I had support and help, and times had changed. Women do NOT need to be patronized, fed pseudo-science made up by men, we do NOT need our access to help cut off or made more difficult, we DO need affordable birth control and social services, and we DO need to be left alone to make our own decisions about our bodies and choices with the help of our physicians, who are free to tell us the truth about those choices! I believe you and those who think as you do are very contemptuous of women and you make up the worst of patriarchy, and will take us back to the 1950s if we allow you to do so.

Kathy, AL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was sexually attacked in college. It was not a stranger that attacked me but a man I had thought was my friend. He invited me to a dance and I thought we were going as just friends. When I resisted his advances he threw himself on me, securing my arms and legs. When I begged him to stop he growled, "I'm doing this for both of us." I struggled with all of my strength and could not free myself from him. I was shocked by how strong he was and how powerless I felt. As he began to grope me and yank my clothes from my body I began to panic. I used the only resource left to me...my voice. I tried to calm myself and began trying to reason with him...and when that didn't work I began to threaten him. Just at that moment, by the grace of God, some of his friends entered the room next to the one we were in. I convinced him that my screams for help would ruin his life on campus. And he let me go. So although I was not raped, it was a legitimate attempted rape. And I did not report it. He was very popular and I was afraid our mutual friends would not believe me. I felt naive for putting myself in a situation of being alone with him. As if being on a date meant I was less entitled to say no. This happened during a period of time prior to the phrase "date rape" and it just wasn't spoken about. I felt it would just be his word against mine. I was just so grateful to be free and I just wanted to go home. Soon after he brought a date to the restaurant I worked in and sat in my section, sneering at me while I waited on them. I think he was taunting me. Showing me that I couldn't stop him. I felt so sorry for that girl. I knew what was in store for her. But I didn't know how to help her. It's been decades since that day and I still wonder about her and if she was okay. I was wrong to not speak up, to not seek help. And all this nonsense about "legitimate rape" is just the kind of cruelty that causes people like me to stay silent. And in that silence I put other women at risk. Those women could be your wife, your daughter, your mother. Rapists to not choose only those who deserve to be attacked. They do not only choose Democrats or liberals. I have voted with your party but I will not ever again while these sort of statements are being made. I don't feel the Republican party respects me, my body or my safety. I don't understand it and will never support it. I didn't speak up enough in college but I will speak up, and loudly, now. Sincerely, Christine

Christine, WA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was raped when I was 21 years old, and very unfortunately became pregnant from this assault. This was extremely traumatic, and I really had no choice but to have an abortion. How could you possibly be so ignorant to believe that women who are raped do not become pregnant? Why would you want them to be forced to have a child by a person who raped them? Would you want this for the women in your family?

Christy, ID

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was raped in 1994....I had finished a long night of work at a bank, went to sleep, and was awakened at 3am by the weight of a man on top of me weilding a knife and threatening to kill me if I didn't comply. I was raised in a Republican family, I was 23, I was (and am) Christian, I am hard-working.....and most importantly, I was a VIRGIN. I was saving myself for the man I married. None of this mattered to my rapist..he ruined life's ultimate expression of love for me with his vile act. Scientifically speaking, the cycle of the month was "right" for me, and I did not get pregnant. This has nothing to do with "luck", "fortune", "prayer" or sheer "will-power" that my body NOT allow the act of conception. The timing was such in my case that conception did not occur. While I am forever grateful for this as having to deal with a pregnancy resulting from rape would have been more than my 23 year-old mind could have handled, I was smart enough now and then to know that SCIENCE was on my side. The rapist raped me at a time of the month where I could not possibly have conceived. Todd Akin's comments are atrocious on two levels. First of all, he cites "legitimate rape", which necessarily means he believes there is a large category of "rape" that is not legitimate. This alone is a problem. Though my experience was completely different (I had come straight home from work and hadn't a milliliter of alcohol in my body), a woman should be able to enjoy the same things men enjoy without it becoming HER FAULT if a man takes advantage of her situation. If a woman says "no" after a first kiss, that may have been consensual at first, NO means NO. A consensual kiss does NOT give a man permission to rape a woman. Secondly, Mr. Akin's insistence that a woman's body would "shut down" and not allow conception to occur is so preposterous it hardly deserves comment. On some level, dignifying his ignorant, ridiculous comment with a response defies my integrity. But for the sake of the nation and to implore the powers-that-be to force his resignation, I will tell you that BIOLOGY IS BIOLOGY! If an egg is at the right place in a woman's body at the right time and sperm appears, VOILA! It's fertilized. This has nothing to do with a woman's body "shutting down", that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I was fortunate that the timing was NOT right for me. To me, this issue has nothing to do with one's political party. This is a human right's issue and a human RESPECT issue -- not to mention a human intelligence issue. To make comments that have no backing in science while simultaneously implying that the victim of rape is still somehow in control of her own outcome is utterly ludicrous. A person such as this should not be in office, and you, Mr. Akin, should not be in office.

Kimberly, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was a victim of rape. At the age of eighteen, I was a hard working young woman from a family that couldn't afford to help me go to college. I worked multiple jobs, sometimes far from my home. When a friend of my parents offered to pick me up from work late at night so that I wouldn't have to take the bus, I was thrilled. I thought I would be safer. I knew that you had to be careful-- don't walk alone at night, always be careful of your surroundings, and make sure a friend knew where I was at all times. I thought I would be safe. He took me to his house, saying that it was too late to make the long drive across the city to my home. I agreed to stay in his guest room. He had been my father's good friend from their time in the military, I was under the perception that I was as safe with him as I was with my own father. That night, I woke up with him crawling on top of me. I was terrified. He kissed me and reached under the shirt he'd let me use as a night shirt, groping me. I told him I didn't want this, and tried to shove him off. He raped me. He told me that he had always thought I was beautiful, and he raped me while I cried. I wasn't a big person, and he was a large man with military experience and it doesn't even matter. He raped me and told me afterwards that I should just date him. He was mad when I yelled at him warning me that no one would believe I didn't want him to fuck me. I didn't want him to rape me, and the first person I told was my father. He didn't want to ruin any reputations because he believed that women wouldn't stay with men they didn't want to have sex with. We don't talk anymore. I didn't feel safe going to the police. I couldn't go to anyone else because I thought no one would believe me because of the environment people like you make flourish, Todd Akin.

Carrie, OH

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I need to address your misconceptions about rape. When you make the distinction between what you call "legitimate rape" and regular rape, you demean the sexual assault that many women experience at some point in their lives. Here's my story: when I was 25 years old I went on a first date with a man I met on a dating service. We had gotten to know each other via email and phone calls and I believed that I could trust him enough to meet at a public place for dinner. It turned out to be a pretty great first date, so we decided to have drinks afterwards. We both had too much to drink, and at closing time were not able to drive home. Conveniently, there were hotels near our bar, and he suggested that we get a room. Of course I said no but he assured me that I could trust him and that nothing would happen! He said we were both incapacitated to drive home and that we should just sleep it off. I agreed and we rented a room and passed out. Next thing I know, I wake up to him on top of me, having sex with me while I was passed out. My pants are off, my underwear is gone, and his penis is thrusting into me. He finished raping me and he rolled over and went to sleep. That was rape. Did I file a police report? No. I willingly got drunk and went to a hotel with him. In the eyes of people like you, what I experienced was not assault. Your friends would probably say I was asking for it. Believe me when I say that my story is very common, and that many women will experience something similar. It's called rape.

Adriana, IL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I have been raped for several years by the same person as a child. Hearing you speak I was disgusted and angry at your comments that are so out of touch. Who are you and other's to think like you, have the right to play politics, albeit bad politics at the expense of women.

Deborah, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I have a sister in law who had experienced sexual assault as a child by her own cousin who was 19 years old at the time. It continued for years. She was afraid to speak up and tell someone and in part, because she was confused and not really sure whether it was right or wrong, (as is often the case with children who can not openly discuss sexual issues with their parents). So she ignored it and let it continue until she was 15 years old when she finally told and she is now in her 30's and this has destroyed her. She can't sleep at night. She locks the bathroom door to go pee or take a bath etc. even when she is the only one in the house and the front door is already locked. This experience has made her paranoid and although she will never say the extent of the sexual assault (i.e., rape, molestation etc) it has haunted her regardless and she said that since she was a child when it began and ended, she couldn't scream NO. When she learned years later that she didn't feel good about herself and mainly because of this violation and the loosing of her childhood, she was confused and blamed herself because she didn't run away from him or scream no etc. But even if she let it happen, when it happened, it is still rape because she was young and didn't have the capacity to turn to anyone. This experience has effected her future relationships with men and her own desire to have a healthy sexual relationship.

Yoshe, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I have a friend who was violently raped at the age of 7 years old when she was walking home from school. She was so ashamed she never told anyone until she was in high school. It has affected her life to this day. As a woman, I think it is unfair to have the men in politics making decisions on my behalf. Women like me and my friend should have the God-given right to make choices about our own body.

Lisette, WA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I am sharing this very traumatic experience of assault and rape with you to try to make you understand that rape is real, there is no woman in the world who "ask for" or "consents to" being raped. There is also nothing about being raped that prevents a woman from getting pregnant, any more than there is anything that prevents her from HIV transmission if her raper is positive for it. My story: I was tricked into opening the door to my motel room in a city away from home, and my rapist/ attacker came in. From then there was nothing I could do. He almost strangled me by putting his fingers into my throat, raped and sodomized me, tied me up, gagged me with something in my mouth and around my head and left me with my head in a pillowcase. Just writing this is very traumatic and will lead to flashbacks, as this incident has left me with serious PTSD. Please listen to and respect women, we are smart and we know what we are talking about.

Dorothy, MA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I am a rape survivor- 3 rapes to be exact, over my lifetime, and I am 55 as of last month. Two as a young woman, and one from an ex-husband; I could describe all three of them in detail, and would like you to tell me which one was "legitimate" vs. "nonlegitimate." I could not tell you which might be categorized as which, since you seem to have the corner on that information. OH- and I didn't get pregnant after- I had the right to birth control as a young woman, and had a tubal ligation after the birth of my children on the recommendation of my doctor- so does that make them "nonlegitimate" because I didn't get pregnant? What exactly are you saying to me and millions of women like me?

Piper, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Here is my story: On the Friday evening of spring vacation in my senior year of high school, I was going home after walking with my long time friend Karen to the bus stop. We had spent the evening at my sister's house at a Mary Kay make up demonstration. I was three blocks from my home and across the street from the elementary school I attended when I was attacked from behind and dragged, with my mouth covered and gagging because my neck was being choked, to a place in a nearby alley where I was sexually and physically assaulted. I was lucky. He eventually pulled up his pants, left and I lived! On your website http://www.akin.org/about-todd-akin, I saw a lovely photo of your family and wonder how you might feel or have felt if your 18 year old daughter or granddaughter shared my personal experience of being raped. This happened to me a little more than 36 years ago and I remember it as a defining moment in my life - right up there with the births of my children and grandchild. That rapist stole my innocence and changed me forever. I don't feel that this is something you can have an opinion about unless you have personal or close personal contact with a victim of rape. I am appalled at your arrogance, ignorance and insensitivity in using the term "legitimate rape."

Deadre, IL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Have you ever been raped? Has anyone close to you been raped? Somehow I doubt it - because anyone who has suffered through the violence and the aftermath would not say nor would they stand for someone saying the things you & your party are spouting. I was raped at 15, by the captain of the football team. He bound my hands with athletic tape that he kept in his car - he was going to put some over my mouth but I promised not to scream, so he put it away... for "next time" he said. He then proceeded to rape me for the next hour, after which he told me to put my clothes on & fix my hair - then he wanted us to discuss which movie we had just "seen" so that our stories would match when he dropped me off at my house. There was never a question of my telling anyone what happened - he frightened me that much. I know I wasn't the only girl he attacked; he was/is a serial rapist that still roams freely about town. A question for you: since I promised not to scream, in fear for my life from this 6'2" 200lb senior, does that mean that I agreed to be raped? That would mean if I became pregnant, I would not be allowed to have an abortion, under your insane set of rules, because it wasn't forcible. However, I didn't get pregnant, so it must have been "real" rape as designated by Mr. Akin - gosh but these rules are so confusing. I would never wish rape on anyone, for any reason; it is a horrible, denigrating, soul-eating destruction of the life it touches. But I would wish enlightenment for all of you - wake up & realize what complete asses you all are with this idiotic war on women. We are not going away... we are just getting more pissed off by the moment.

Beth, VT

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, An apology is not good enough. And yours, Sir, didn't sound very sincere. Especially, because you don't have the common sense to know that your words "raped" women again! You, Sir, are not thinkiing about saving the life of a fetus because you are a "good Christian man"...you are interested in asserting power over women and keeping them in "their place". Women who don't have the courage to stand up and speak out are sentenced to a life of frustration and anger...perhaps, even rage. Rage because of YOUR arrogance. You ought to be making laws that uphold the Constitution NOT the Bible, where women are constantly being punished. Your words and deeds, Sir, are equal to the tyranny of the Taliban. I pity your wife, any daughters or sisters you might have and most of all I pity your poor mother who nurtured you so you could grow up and spew such vitriol against women,

Roxanne, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Rape is rape. I don't know what you mean by forcible rape or legitimate rape. Anyone who has been raped knows there are no distinctions. I chose to abort the cluster of cells you say has more rights than me, a viable, tax-paying, voting member of society. And I don't regret my decision for one minute. How many orphans who were not aborted have you taken in? Yeah, I thought so.

Sunita, VA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was molested as a child and teenager. I became pregnant by my step-father. It would have been totally unrealistic to force me to carry a child that I did not want and could not have afforded to raise. If I would have been forced to give birth to this child at the age of 13, That is ridiculous. When Mr Akin can give birth to a child then he would have the right to tell me what I should have done as a child. He has no right to tell me what to do with my body and the rest of my life. If I would have given birth and put the child up for adoption, who is to say what would happen to that child? There are not enough people who want to adopt, this makes more cost for the government to have to take care of the unwanted children from rape and insest.

Christene, IN

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives - Sexual assault is real. And if you think it hasn't happened to someone you know, and possibly someone you love, you are likely wrong. I know this because I know that it happened to me and I never told anyone - not my parents, not my friends, and certainly not the police. I never told anyone my story because I felt like it was my own fault. I felt that I had been very stupid and naive to get into a car with someone that I didn't know. Now, 40 years later, I know that even if I was very stupid for getting into a car with someone I didn't know, that did not give them the right to rape me. Just like you, Mr Akin, I let ignorance be my guide, instead of seeking the truth. And the truth is, no one else has the right to play with the private areas of my body. Certainly not that rapist 40 years ago, and certainly not politicians and conservatives like you now. Sincerely, Robin

Robin, GA

Dear Todd Akin and like-mind conservatives: Though you may think rape is something that is easily gotten over, or perhaps you even believe no trauma is suffered at the hands of a rapist let me tell you MY story. My story begins at the age of 10 when my foster mother's younger (age 46 at the time) brother decided to sexually abuse and assualt me (and my sisters as well). This went on for years until I finally ran away and my sisters and I were removed from this home. Because of the degrading nature of these assualts I grew up believing I wasn't worthy of anyone's love and began drinking and doing drugs to ease that pain. No, I didn't become pregnant, but given the severity of the outcome of my molestations and rape HAD I gotten pregnant with no way to end it I probably would have taken my life. As it was, this occurred (I'm 65 now) at a time when there were no laws protecting girls and women who got pregnant by a rapist. I personally knew of two girls who had to give birth to the unwanted children of their rapists and they, like myself suffered such trauma as to send them to a life of drinking and drugs to kill the pain. Being a man I suppose it is difficult to understand, personally, how women are effected and it's for this reason you need to listen to the women who are telling you what we go through. Why this is so difficult for you to do I don't understand, but just think about it being your wife, your daughter, your niece or a good friend's daughter. How would you REALLY feel then? One thing I do know from experience is that those who are wealthy can go secretly and have an abortion with no fear of dying or becoming seriously ill. Now you may say this would never happen in your household but oh yes it would because the shame surrounding rape is bad enough but giving birth to a rapist's child would be unbearable. Don't delude yourself into thinking otherwise. You just might not be told but I know women and it would happen. This is about saving the lives of women and girls who have been traumatized beyond belief. In addition whether you realize it or not when a woman is pregnant it's the love she has for the child that she's carrying that helps it thrive. If a child is unwanted/unloved it will certainly not thrive before birth or after birth. There is much that affects both mother and child during pregnancy and even in the best of circumstances pregnancy can be a precarious situation. Why you would want to put mother and child as well through this most unholy of circumstances is beyond me. My hope is that some of what I've said will affect the outcome of your vote on this issue.

Kathryn, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-,minded conservatives. I was raped at 13 and not only was this my first time to have any form of sex, I got pregnant from this one time rape and was forced to carry a child full term and put it up for adoption with out ever seeing or knowing what the gender of my baby was. This is two traumas for a young girl who had not even kissed a boy before. Had you been through what I have been through you would be aghast at what you have said and for implying that there is "legitimate rape" of any kind! I suppose you would say my rape was illegitimate because of my child? I only can say to you I am sorry that you are so unable to see what damage a rape alone does to a woman You also imply that her body will know if it is a legitimate rape..??????? Rape is rape and conceiving is not related to what kind of sex she had. This is not a political issue.. It is a matter of life, health and safety for women whose bodies have been violated. The very idea that there are permissible rapes is unconscionable. Women are the ones to carry the burden of rape and they should alone be able to determine what is best for their bodies.

J, WA

Dear Todd Akin and like minded conservatives: I was raped when 15 by 2 older boys. I fought but they were bigger and stronger and there were 2. Luckily I didn't get pregnant but if I had and you had your way I would have had a baby at 16, a child myself. If I were your 15 year old daughter would you want me to carry a rapist's child?

Helen, NJ

Dear Todd Akin and like minded conservatives: I have experience sexual assault twice. Once I became pregnant. That was a spousal sexual assault, which means that I was raped by my husband. I'm sure you don't believe spousal rape exists, but I can tell you it does. I kept the baby, now a grown man who I love deeply and of whom I am proud. The rapist and I divorced when my son was one, after I tried to keep the marriage with this abusive alcoholic together. I raised my son and his older sister as a single mother, with almost no support from my ex-husband. My children are 13 months apart, which was not healthy for me, nor for the child I carried. I have health concerns that stem from this pregnancy, and my son's health was precarious as a newborn. I accept the consequences of the choice I made, and recognize that it was my choice. I made my choice, and would like for other women to be able to make their choices. This was the second sexual assault I experienced. The first could be considered "legitimate" rape by your standards because it was a stranger rape. I had, however, been out at a party and was on my way home when I was accosted in the parking lot of my apartment, so maybe not. This experience destroyed my life and sent me into a decade long period of deep depression. It was during this time I met my second rapist, my ex-husband. Thirty years after this experience, I still have symptoms of post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. Some days it is still a struggle to get up and do what I need to do. I am now in a happy and healthy relationship with a man who has some understanding of how my life was impacted by sexual assault and provides the emotional support that I need.

Dear Todd Akin and like minded conservatives, I honestly doubt you can relate to my story and countless others unless you personally or someone you love experiences sexual assault like we have. I was raped by my best friend when I was 17 and then I was sexually assaulted in a heavily populated public park last summer. Luckily I did not get pregnant or suffer any serious injuries, but the mental damage is immense. I felt helpless, angry, depressed, worthless, hollow, and extremely vulnerable. How I connect with people, how I have difficulty in trusting my friends, how I conduct myself around strangers and how I have serious problems maintaining a strong relationship have all affected me for years. I am not a weak, whiny, or lascivious person. I am 21 years old and go to school full time and hold a steady job. I am astonished at your comments about rape, especially considering your position on the Science and Technology committee, and I am angry that you would even think that mine or any other woman's body would say, "Well, that was LEGITIMATE (as if there is illegitimate?) rape, so I'm just going to NOT make a baby." That is NOT how that works. A person cannot just halt biology, no matter how strongly you and others want to believe that's what happens. I do not wish anything bad of a sexual assault nature to happen to you, your loved ones, or your friends, but you need to seriously consider how it affects the lives of those that have had a horrible, heinous and irreversible crime such as rape done to them.

Caitlin, KS

Dear Todd Akin and kindred thinkers, I am a DATE RAPE survivor. My first time date took drugs right before picking me up. I did not know this until he started getting high. When I asked to go home he took me home and then forced himself into my apartment and spent the entire drug-induced night raping me repeatedly. I did not have a choice and my screams were not heard as he held a pillow over my head whenever I tried. I was so frightened.

Elizabeth, OR

Dear Todd Akin and cohorts, when I was fourteen years old, I was raped by a nineteen year old man. He was careful not to leave bruises. He was someone I knew, someone I had trusted. Until he raped me, I had no reason to believe I was unsafe in his presence. I never told anyone because I knew what happened to the girls that did. Rape and sexual assault was endemic at this school, and no one cared. People like you did not care enough to give us a safe environment. Instead, people like you said we deserved what happened to us because of what someone DID to us. Some unlucky few became pregnant from what happened to them. I was lucky; there were no diseases or pregnancy. I want you to imagine, for just one moment, that you are fourteen. A man is holding you down and forcing himself into your body. No matter how much you cry or beg him to stop, he doesn't. And then when it's over and you ache inside and out, you are told it is your fault, and that if you become pregnant, it's your fault. I want you to imagine that this same man goes on to assault a twelve year old girl, but still no one does anything. Why? Because it's 'our fault.' Today, that man is happily married, with children, while I struggle to have a normal sexual relationship with my husband.

Brandy, AR

Dear Todd Akin - Your personal experiences seem to have left you blind to the real world. Yes, I was raped and then I had to wait a month before I found out if I was or was not HIV positive because of it. The hospital gave me the morning after pill and I thank God that it was allowed. I am an upstanding member of my community, a tax paying citizen and raised Catholic. I resent not just your faulty science, but the feelings of entitlement that led you to believe such idiocy. Two total strangers broke into my house. I was violated in the privacy of my own home.

Michele, MD

Dear Todd Aiken and other like minded conservatives, I was raped at knifepoint as a young woman and sent years lving a shattered sort of half life. I had no means to prevent pregnancy in that situation, I was merely fortunate that I was spared that tragedy. I was very very young, and very very traumatized. I could not have been a mother to anyone after that experience. The trauma of giving up a baby for adoption would have probably driven me to suicide. I am beyond angry at your insensitive comments. There are no words for my rage. If I had the means I would see to it that you would be prosecuted for hate crimes for what you have publicly said. I am not making a big deal over nothing. You have no right to hold a leadership position in this country, particularly not one related to science, of which you are clearly quite ignorant and/or dismissive. Are there no women or girls in your life that you care for or respect? I will pray for your soul, and pray that you are somehow prevented from causing further harm to women and girls.

Catherine, NY

Dear Tod Akin and like-minded conservatives: I was raped at age 20. It was "forcible", even though I didn't have bruises or cuts. That doesn't make it any easier to live with. If only that trauma really did shut down my reproductive system. That's right, nine months later, I gave birth to a boy from that encounter. I had him adopted into a great family in Canada. I chose not to abort him. I CHOSE. While I'm glad he's doing well in a family where his face doesn't remind them of pain and degradation, it really doesn't make me feel any better not having aborted. Adoption isn't the painless, positive option a lot of people want to think it is. Eleven years later, I still think about the rape and my son every day no matter how hard I try. At least an abortion would have given me closure. It sickens me to think that you and others would try to further traumatize women like me with unjust laws and careless words. I'm wounded, I'm pissed, and I vote. And I'm not alone.

Jessica, PA

Dear Sirs, If you want to speak to me about budgets, taxes or governance, I am all ears. But do not assume to speak about women's biology, rape, pregnancy, or abortion-- all topics about which you clearly have no working knowledge or personal understanding. Because your words HURT. Your dismissive agenda damages LIVES. If you stop talking about my body and my rights, I'll stop talking about your clear-cut ignorance.

Jill, WI

Dear Mr.Akin, My niece was raped when she was 16 and never told anyone about it for many years until she had a break down and became very depressed and suicidal. Feeling ashamed and powerless to do anything and terrified is bad enough and to have to carry a baby that would be a constant reminder of the person who assaulted her is even worse. Think if your daughter went through an experience like this or someone you loved. Unless put yourself in that young girls shoes you would never understand what someone as young as her had to go through. You are an insult to women and to society. We do not live in dark ages and men like you should not have anything to do with women's health issues. You should be ashamed of yourself to call yourself a christian. You have no understanding or compassion for others and you bring shame to this country. So please step down and get yourself educated before you represent the people of this state. Rene

Anna, PA

Dear Mr. Akin & like-minded conservatives: I was raped at the age of 19 by a visiting consultant for whom I worked. I was in shock and went through all of the shame, guilt, fear that all survivors experience. I was so traumatized by the horrific acts committed against me that it took many years before I could talk to the people closest to me about it. Immediately following the rape, one of my greatest fears was that I might contract HIV/AIDS, followed by the fear of pregnancy. You can't possibly imagine how paralyzing such fear can become and how such horrific acts can affect someone's life. Every relationship is tainted because of the loss of trust and self-blame that can be crippling. I pray you never have to experience such fear or watch helplessly while someone you care about deals with the pain of rape. My personal beliefs and upbringing would probably have prevented me from seeking an abortion had I become pregnant due to my rape but I would NEVER presume to stand in the way of another woman who felt it was her only choice. Who are YOU to denigrate the suffering of millions of people and presume to know what's best for a rape survivor. How can you stand on a platform and mouth obscenities like using the term "legitimate rape". By it's very nature, rape is an act of violence - it's about power and control. Your rhetoric is just another form of re-victimizing us. For shame, Mr. Akin. I hope you never get elected again unless and until you wake up and get some education about the dynamics of sexual assault. You do a disservice to women everywhere.

Margaret, TX

My beautiful sister, Mary Ann, was raped, then she committed suicide. What is wrong with you? You are uneducated and an embarrassment.

Teresa, TX

Dear Todd Akin: Please resign, and then take some time to learn a little more about reproductive biology.

Barnes, RI

Dear Todd Akin and other like-minded conservatives, I wish to inform you that there is no such thing as an illegitimate rape. Rape is rape and no means no. End of story. You are using terms you do not know or even understand in feeble attempt to try and prevent women from having rights over their bodies. Anti-abortion legislature is offensive and frankly un-American; forcing your own religious and personal belief systems onto others in the form of law is UN AMERICAN. It upsets me to no end that someone can be elected into political office without even the most basic knowledge of human biology. I also find it rather interesting that all of these conservatives flapping away at statements such as Akins' are nearly entirely male. Keep your backwards religious conservative crap off of our bodies and out of our legislature.

Bethanie, MA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives; I am a counselor who has treated women who are victims of sexual assault, rape and incest. These women spend years of their lives trying to heal from the trauma they carry from these experiences. It often ruins their ability to experience sex as a loving expression and creates a frozen terror even in sexual situations with their husbands or partners, The "relax and try to enjoy it" comment from the conservative cohort is the ignorant and offensive statements I have ever heard from a public figure. It causes me shame to have such a fellow countryman. I can assure you that your position on these crimes, as a prominent political figure , has a traumatizing effect on survivors of sexual violations. I suggest you examine your own views of women and understand that you are an accomplice to such offenders and are recognized as such by the women in this country who have been violated, as well as caring and intelligent women and men who stand with them in solidarity. Women hold a powerful force and will organize to prevent someone like you to prevail.

Karen, NY

As an OB/GYN I can assure you that rape/incest victims can and do get pregnant. Rape is real and women need to be treated compassionately, fairly and with good medical advice and care.

Kaaren, GU

As a retired Psychotherapist, I have heard numerous stories from traumatized women regarding sexual assault. I am filled with disgust and anger with your attitudes and wonder how many women have suffered these experiences w/o telling their husbands/fathers.

Joanne, WA

While living in Albany, NY in the early 80's a neighbor of mine was invited to a party by a new friend. Turns out she was the party. She was gang raped by five men and left for dead in the woods. A car passing by the next morning heard her crying for help and brought her to the hospital. It took her years to recover physically and emotionally. Over thirty years later she still has nightmares

Lu, CT

To Todd Akin and like-minded Conservatives: You have no right to dictate, postulate, or legislate regarding a woman's body. Don't even attempt to speak about what you don't, can't, and will never understand. If you men were the ones who bore children, everything under the sun that's related to the subject would be free to you and delivered to your homes. But, because it's just us women who bear the children, you feel you can use our bodies and our reproductive processes as oppressive tools to leverage against us. Shame on you!

Bridget, TN

Thank you for letting the public know what a nut-job you so-called "conservatives" are. You have NO right to make decisions about women's reproductive rights. This just wakes everyone up. So, thanks! Now, can you get out of politics and leave us all alone?

Holly, NY

Stop using unscientific baloney to control women's bodies. I don't legislate what can and can't happen to your testicles. Please stay away from my uterus.

Carrie, WI

Someone who does not have an understanding of basic human biology and reproduction should not be making decisions about abortion access or any other issue related to human health for the entire population of the United States.

Christy, FL

My sister's rape happened right after she graduated high school. As a virgin, she was raped by a guy pretending to be interested in her. I suppose Rep. Akin wouldn't have considered it a "legitimate" rape because she was also interested in him when he offered her a ride home from the lake they were at together. The rape occured during this ride home and eventually led to my sister's suicide. How much more traumatic can it be when you've lost your will to live?!

Peggy, MN

I was about 4'6" and he was 6'6"". Try as I might - there was really no fight to it.

Anonymous

Date rape in college in 1964; long time ago but not forgotten, and when it didn't have a name. Legitimate?

Carmine, VT

By the time I was fifteen, all three of my sisters, my mother, two of my younger stepbrothers, and I had all been sexually assaulted. My mother and one of my sisters got pregnant as a result, and all of us got stds. My youngest stepbrother had to have surgery to sew up his insides from what his rapist did to him. You need to resign and go back to school, and by that, I mean grade school, so that you can get a proper education.

Duncan, IA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was a Mormon girl at Harvard who had never even kissed a boy, when I was sexually assaulted by a fellow student on a first date. It took me many years to recover from the scars it left behind. It devastated my family and interfered with my education. When I look back on my college experience, it's still the first thing I think of, even now, almost twenty years later. Everyone likes to think this kind of thing will never happen to their daughter, or sister, or mother, or wife, or friend, but I can tell you it does happen. It happens even to nice, innocent Mormon girls at Ivy League schools. It happens too often. If your daughter came to you with a story like mine, I certainly hope you wouldn't spew the same kind of hateful, ignorant drivel you've been serving to the media lately. But every woman who is raped is somebody's sweet daughter. And I can tell you firsthand that when a woman hears despicable comments like yours, it makes it that much harder to recover from one of the worst things a human being can experience.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I have two stories to tell. The first is mine. I was, at the time, employed by the state to care for my cousin and her husband's three children. He was a former prison guard; Very tall, and very large, and extremely intimidating. He came home early one day and locked the two of us in the back room with all three children at home. I said I had to leave, but he grabbed my hands and held them against his erection. I said, repeatedly, that I had to go home and that I was expected, and he pulled my shirt off and began to lick my breasts. One of the kids opened the door and I ran. I ran into the front room and out the door, barely remembering to take my things with me. The second story belongs to my girlfriend. A friend of hers had been pestering her for weeks that he wanted to get together, and she'd turned him down every time. It seemed like he'd stopped, that he was going to respect her choice and her desire to be friends and not to explore a romantic option. Instead, he waited and raped her. She could not handle being alone with anyone for a long time. I had to leave the state just to feel safe. It's been years and I am still afraid to be alone in any room with anyone I do not trust with my whole being. People who were supposed to respect us as individuals and as people betrayed that. We were violated and it is a physical agony, a mental torture, to relive those moments when we are alone with someone we don't know, a strange man or a sort of acquaintance. But we are told by the likes of Rep. Akin that this was not an attack, but something we wanted, and that brings the bile to my throat and the anxiety attacks begin.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, During a company trip in the Bahamas to honor outstanding sales performance, I was attacked by a drunken corporate officer who forced his way into my room. It seems he panicked when I was knocked unconscious as he threw me onto the bed and my head hit the corner of the night stand. I was extremely lucky to even wake up. I was naked and had a huge bruise / lump behind my ear, and I was traumatized to the point of short term amnesia, but I was not pregnant. I thank God for the kind person I first contacted at a rape hotline, and the sensitivity of doctors and therapists who worked with me through many months to help me cope with what had happened. That was in 1984, and I still have issues with trust and occasional nightmares going back to that sexual assault. In my wildest imagination, I cannot begin to understand how I could possibly have survived being forced to carry a child had I become pregnant. Emotionally, that seems like a death sentence to be forced to relive an attack on a 24/7 basis for the rest of my life - not only for the nine months of gestation, but forever knowing a rapist's child had been birthed by me, wondering what horrible genes had become part of that child and how they might manifest as destructive behavior negatively impacting others' lives Legally, I was prohibited from discussing specifics of what happened, and that was fine with me because I felt shame although I'd done nothing wrong - common among victims of sexual assault. The "gag order" made it easier for me to bury the experience in my memory and move on with professional help. In all the ensuing years, I have relayed this to only a couple friends, but feel compelled to express myself now because people like you scare me. I genuinely fear for future victims whose personal choices must be respected and carried out with kindness and loving care.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, You should know that children get raped too. I am a survivor of child rape. At that time, it was not physically possible for me to get pregnant because I was four-years-old. By your logic, I was not raped. Sexual assault and reproductivity have nothing in common. Rape is rape. Sexual assault is sexual assault.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives I became pregnant when the older guy I was dating did not take no for an answer. It was doubly rape because not only was I too young to consent (while he was overage) but also I said no and he simply ignored me. I could not be more appalled and insulted by Rep. Akin's comments that in "legitimate" rape cases women's bodies have ways of shutting that down and Rep. King's statements that he's never heard of that happening personally. I can't imagine why whether or not someone has told you something happened to them personally could have any relevance to the discussion but now you have heard from someone personally who became pregnant from rape. I placed my child for adoption and still to this day miss him and wish the best for him. Your careless, callous and misinformed comments are hurtful to women like me.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, A man broke into my friend's house and threatened to kill her FIVE children if she resisted the rape. She therefore did not resist. Her body didn't reject his sperm and an unwanted pregnancy resulted. The child was born mentally deficient and the mother died during the delivery, leaving SIX children without a mother..

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin & like-minded conservatives, It was 40 years ago... 'date rape' didn't exist as a term, but that's what I experienced. I'd said, 'No,' but because it was someone I was dating, I was blamed for the event. (It was also 'statutory' because I was underage, but AGAIN I was both victim and culprit.) You have no idea what that shame/blame is like. I never reported it because it was deemed my 'fault'. I swore I would never allow another man to take advantage of me. I took self-defense classes. I also became a strong and devout feminist and activist. I also determined that any daughter of mine, or any young woman with whom I worked, would know that she had not only the responsibility in sexual liaisons, but also RIGHTS; most specifically, that NO meant NO.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Aiken and like-minded conservatives: About ten years ago, a dear friend of mine was brutally assaulted and raped; she was fortunate to have lived. One of her greatest fears was pregnancy. Thank God that abortion was legal in our state if this were the case. And it was. The abortion was another terrible consequence of the rape. Unable to live by herself, she lived with me and my husband for two years. Living with a person suffering PTSD is difficult; I cannot imagine the horror of having been raped and nearly murdered. It has taken years of therapy, healing services at our church, and the grace of God for her to gain strength and confidence again. She eventually married a very patient, loving man and they have had a beautiful son together, the joy of their marriage. You sound misinformed and patronizing. You do not have the right to decide for another human being what she must do about a pregnancy: what she thinks and feels she must do, no matter how devastating to her personal moral code, is a private matter, between her and Almighty God. You do not have the right to play God. God is all forgiving and all merciful. We are not. I am withholding my name and state because of piracy reasons, but I do hope this story might give you a new way to think and feel about the severe mercy of abortion.

Anonymous

You are so out of touch with women and humanity. Stay away from my body. I feel that you are raping all women with your self righteous control. There are many levels of violating women's bodies and women's bodies can get pregnant in any one of those violations. You are wrong and I hope you step down. But I will join thousands - millions of women in bringing you down.

Laura, MI

Women, like men, deserve freedom of choice and in that, no means no. There is nothing more to understand.

Jayne, CA

When I was 13 years old, a group of older boys ripped my clothes off, kicked me, beat me, insulted me and rammed a broomstick up my anus. I am still dealing with the nightmares and the trauma, 50 years later. Was that a legitimate rape? Of course, I didn't get pregnant (I am male). But if I'd been a woman and they'd deposited semen in me, would you demand that I carry the child to term and raise it? Can you imagine how hard it might be on the child to be forced into that environment of pain and hate? Have you no decency sir?

William, CA

My daughter was "legitimately" raped at six years old by a disabled man in the neighborhood. She has yet to overcome the repurcussions of that assault. No, she was 6 years old so she did not get pregnant.

James, FL

At a high school party I drank, felt bad so I went outside, wanted to go home, passed out, was raped, woke up in the yard alone, without my clothes. There was no "invitation", and you cannot know the violation or what is taken away by such an act.

T, TX

As someone who knows and has experienced the horrors of sexual assault i find your comments to be reprehensible. I believe that you are sorry you spoke of this matter in such a dergrading matter but i also feel that those words were your exact thoughts.

Ilene, IL

As a result of being raped at the age 16 (and being raped was my first sexual experience), I contracted gonorrhea. Because I was too ashamed to tell my mother (or anyone else) it went untreated for long enough that ultimately I was not able to have children of my own. Years and years of frustration and anger are the result of that experience. My body did not "shut down" -- nor did my mind.

Julia, IL

A resident physician in a hospital tried to rape me when I was 20. Never saw him before or after. Todd Akin, try to imagine the same happening to you, never mind what gender the attacker was. I defended myself and witnesses never said anything about the matter. Imagine yourself assaulted and no witness came to your defense when you were hospitalized. I never forgot this. I am 77.

Tanis, MA

A man I had dated for a brief period but stopped seeing came to my home drunk. He struck me several times, knocking me to the floor, and raped me. He was not a stranger but the violent act was NOT CONSENSUAL. I may not have become pregnant, but I did end up with an STD which I had have treated. I did not seek any other help but did attempt to get a restraining order against this man. The police I spoke to not only belittled my situation ("What did you do to get the guy so angry, honey?") and set up numerous roadblocks so that obtaining the order was next to impossible. I lived in incredible fear, which I dared not share lest I be stigmatized as a raped person (this was 30 years ago) until the man finally left the area I lived in. I'm not sure what was worse: the actual rape, or the fact that others refused to acknowledge my trauma.

Roberta, NY

A dear friend was raped by a close friend's family member during her teen years that resulted in pregnancy and the threat of being thrown out of her home. She would have ended up homeless and at risk for further sexual assault and potentially fatal encounters. She lives with the trauma of this experience. It was clear that keeping the pregnancy would have resulted in her death and traumatic reaction to having the perpetrator's energy continue on in her body as a constant reminder.

Susan, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives. I was attacked by man when I was 16 years old. A man much older than myself wanted to have sex with me and I fought. In doing so I was almost killed. It ended when I screamed and he punched me in the face so hard I passed out. I didn't get raped because I fought back but it almost killed me.

Deborah, NC

When I was 19, I was dating a man who raped me. After setting what I though were shared physical boundaries for our relationship, he held me down and stripped me of my virginity and dignity in an act of unprotected intercourse, saying "Don't worry. Nobody gets pregnant their first time." Fortunately, I did not. But I was terrified, and made sure--very quickly--that I knew where to go if I had become pregnant. You have no idea of the shame, fear, and embarrassment that a forced sexual encounter causes, whether or not a woman knows her perpetrator. I did not deserve decades of shame for that experience--and I do not deserve a government that houses anybody who still harbors outmoded, ignorant, hateful and hurtful ideas about rape.

Anonymous

I was kidnapped, and drugged and raped by several men over the course of a few days (I still can't be certain of how long because they drugged me. And I don't use drugs). I became pregnant. I guess that magical mechanism women's bodies have wasn't put into mine. WOW, that means I'm less of a woman, and that I wasn't really raped after all. You can't imagine how much that makes me feel. Your spectacular ignorance and callous indifference to the suffering of women makes you hateful. You just committed a hate crime on all women. By the way, I am an ER RN, a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and part of the Sexual Assault Response Team. I've seen many women brutally raped who became pregnant. Having to carry around that trauma for 9 months is a criminal punishment that you want to inflict on a defenseless woman.

Shelley, OR

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, My first sexual assault was at the age of 4. Another assault followed that one at the same age. At the age of 14 I was raped and beaten by 2 men. How does one, especially at a young age, consent to sexual assault or rape. The scars have haunted me all my life and even today at the ripe old age of 63. The mental anguish and unwarranted guilt I felt will stay with me until I die. Shame on you and your like thinkers for trying to be G-D and judge what I should do with my body. Because of people like you the road to heal is more difficult. Once again shame on you!

Barbara, FL

Dear Todd Akin and like minded conservatives, I am an incest survivor. I was abused by my own biological father between the ages of 12 through 19 when I finally mustered to courage to press charges. I did so in order to protect my younger sisters--whom he was grooming to take my place as his sexual focus. The only people that have the understanding, compassion and right to decide anything for rape victims--are rape victims themselves. Unless you have been raped and born the anxiety, fear or agony of an unwanted pregnancy, then you are in no position to speak for me, decide for me or choose for me. I need you to put the already born in as a higher priority than potential fetuses that you aren't going to care about anyway once they are independent life forms and require care. Be pro-victim life instead of pro-fetus. I think victims should be healed and nutured instead of having uncaring, unknowing politicians telling them how to survive.

Nethea, GA

I was raped by an adult at age 14. It was awful and painful. I had just begun menstruating and could have easily been in a horrific situation if not for a kind nurse at a Planned Parenthood clinic who helped me get emergency birth control. A kid that age has no insurance and our local hospital did not have rape kits or resources for sexual assault victims. Trust me, if stress and fear could prevent a woman from getting pregnant, then the amount of terror I faced would have made me sterile for life. Luckily, I had the help of a compassionate and knowledgeable health professional who knew I was in a dangerous situation and did the right thing.

Anonymous

I was raped and became pregnant as a result...my body did not shut down the process...thankfully my pregnancy was terminated when I fell down a flight of stairs...I suppose my womanly juices pushed me down the stairs...I was in pure agony at the prospect of bearing a child that was the result of violence and hatred towards women.

Anonymous

Raped by a superior while serving in the Army. I now continue to struggle with PTSD. That was never mentioned in my benefits and is one memory I can do without.

Kynthia, NV

In 1976 at the end of the summer just before returning to university, I was gang raped 17 times by 5 men in Cody, WY. One of them was the son of the police chief. I was grabbed coming out of a restroom in my friend's home, tied - arms and legs - to a bed frame so I was splayed like a newly killed deer ready to be butchered, and I was raped 17 times...one after another after another....again and again..and I couldn't move. I was loosed, then taken to I-25 with my bag and left to hitchhike back to Colorado. I became pregnant from that horror....I did have an abortion and have never regretted it. I'm glad the option and high quality service was available to me.

Diana, NC

I was date rated in 1968 (when that phrase was not in use and, therefore, if you knew the guy it couldn't be rape). I was in Catholic college and was not sexually active. I tried to break up this non-sexual relationship, and he raped me. I became pregnant from this one sexual encounter. I was not given counseling, even though he admitted he "forced me." It has haunted me to this day.

Sherry, CA

Dear Todd Akin, Twenty two years ago I gave birth to a lovely daughter who was conceived as a result of rape. This rape was a legitimate rape, just as all rapes are. For you to state that a woman's body will prevent pregnancy if it is a legitimate rape is simply ignorant and sickening and the message you are giving is that I, and others, really weren't raped, well I can tell you with 1000% certainty I was raped and it was a horrible, degrading experience. No I did not report the rape because I did not want to have to go through being treated like I was somehow to blame for being raped, that I was the one in the wrong and the rapist was the victim. I chose not to abort my pregnancy but I can find no fault with any woman that chooses an abortion if she becomes pregnant as a result of rape. Your words are also degrading to all women and an apology does not mean a thing because you are not sorry, you meant what you said and if you are truly sorry you would step out of the race and out of public office completely.

Cindy, MD

Dear Todd Akin, Please, do not ban abortions for rape victims. I was raped (it has taken me 15 years to speak those words - I usually I just say "forced" or "hurt me") when I was 15 by a 16 year old boy. He told me not to tell anyone, no one would believe a non-Evangelical Christian. He was the son of a firefighter and Evangelical preacher. My mom found out and she even said "we shouldn't report it." Then it was never talked about again. I never got to grieve, I lifted my head high and carried on. But 15 years later I have nightmares every week and I have been unable to be in a relationship with a man & fear I will never have a family. Throughout the years I have met other girls/women who had similar experiences, all of which never reported it. And all of us felt shame, fear & guilt and struggled to have any kind of relationship, even friendship with men. Several girls fell pregnant and tried to give themselves abortions. Now, after hearing what Akin said I feel dirty all over again. Why can't the boys/men be held responsible for their actions? Why can't we teach boys how to treat girls? And why are girls/women punished further after they are treated so repulsively & with no respect? Oh and in case Akin wonders, I come from a middle class, well educated family. I have a Masters and the other women I met all were well educated too. We were all "good" girls, who never wanted to cause problems. Regardless, good/bad, young/old, color/class etc.. rape is rape.

Kate, MN

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives. When I was 20, I was drugged and gang-raped at a party; I am now 66. Fortunately, I didn't get pregnant because the only way I could have terminated the pregnancy would have been going to some back-alley quack and risked the very possible chance of dying from the procedure. Back then, a missed period could be terrifying. Men have an arrogant, cavalier attitude toward victims of sex crimes. If I had had to give birth to a child caused by being raped, it would have been cruel to both me and the child, as the child would be a daily reminder of being raped. This doesn't fit 'every child, a wanted child.' Though I have been counselled for this violation of my body and soul over the years, it is still there, everyday. My sense of trust and safety was nearly destroyed and I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Lauren, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, When I was 18, I was drugged, held down and raped. I got pregnant. (I was planning to abort; I miscarried.) I was sent by the college I was attending at the time (a liberal arts college, not overtly religious in any way) to a crisis pregnancy center, which tried every single tactic it could get me to to keep this child despite the fact that I was obviously traumatized, constantly crying, shaking when anyone touched me. The tactic that will always stick in my head: Well, the father is white, too, right? People REALLY WANT white babies, there aren't enough of them up for adoption. I was forced to continue to attend classes with my rapists because it was so late in the semester. I nearly drank myself to death because of the trauma of what happened to me and how I was treated by the system - and, specifically, by anti-choice agencies that would have denied me my choice to have the abortion I needed. What I needed was support and love and trust. What I got was coercion, manipulation, a refusal to listen, and a very strong sense that I had been responsible for what happened to me and I deserved all of the pain that I was in. I was 18 and on my own. If I had not had a mother who loved me and supported me through this and access to proper therapy, I would not be alive today. That is a fact.

Jessica, IL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was raped by my stepfather at the age of thirteen. Perhaps my female parts were not developed enough to shut down and avoid it, but I got pregnant. Since this was in the '50's, I was lucky enough to get a Mexican abortion, which gave me a rip-roaring infection. But I was lucky! I was still able to have children.

Dawn, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, The man who kidnapped me in the parking lot at gun point later told his lawyer that the reason he had picked me was because I was "the kind of girl who would never have a man like him'. For four hours of unspeakable horror, I did not know whether I would live or die. He told me his plan was to shoot me first, then himself rather than go back to prison. He inflicted on me the punishment and beatings he had received in prison, the humiliation of his own rape, and the anger at his wasted life due to addiction and petty crime. I understood then that rape is not a sexual crime as much as it is an act of violence, of violation, of taking away someone elses dignity and power, of exerting control over anothers helplessness. I survived by prayer and by conversation with the monster who had once been a boy, a human boy who wanted to be loved. After three days of trial, he stood up and confessed to all charges. To me it was just a joke, he told the judge and jury. There was a part of me that did not survive. My beauty became a stigma. I was suddenly and crudely awakened to lust, violent bloody lust, of taking what you want forcefully. I was aware of the media manipulations of woman-flesh to tantalize and seduce. I saw desire on every mans face in a way I never had before and it frightened me. Being followed by a low-rider car caused me to panic. Walking into the jazz club where I worked as a cocktail waitress sent me into hysterics. I could not be around people and I could not bear to be alone. I did not care about the wretched body I was forced to be inside of. My body went into shock. I lay down and had no desire to get up. My room-mate saved my life by rushing me to her acupuncturist who implanted needles in my heart meridians. When I arose from my bed, I took the scissors and cut off all my hair. I threw away the dresses, the heels, the lipsticks. I covered myself in baggy t-shirts and mens pants, in dull colors of gray and brown. I was ashamed of my female body and didnt want anyone to notice me. I closed the door to intimacy, to the woman I could be. I had recurrent nightmares. The panic stirred the fear in me like I was drowning, endlessly running in slow motion, choking, screaming. It would take trauma therapy twenty-five years after my rape before I found the courage to stand in front of an audience of strangers to share my poetry. It would take the encouragement and support of my womens writing group. It took twenty-five years to realize how much my fear had a grip on me and prevented me from expressing myself boldly without quaking in my gut and becoming defensive and angry. It took that long before I could relate to men whom I didnt know as people rather than potential perpetrators of pain. It took that long before I could read a love poem and not faint with terror or dress up for a party and not feel exposed. It was twenty-five years before I healed enough to be able to share poems and stories about what had happened to me. It took me almost my whole life to enjoy being a woman. Please don't allow anyone else to go through this experience without support and understanding.

Wendy, MN

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, As a survivor of molestation and rape, Im astonished by the comments made by you! Your hurtfull comments have brought up pain for many people around our nation. How can a 5yr old girl ask to be raped? And how can your comments go unpunished? Yes I was 5 and my neighbor did awful things to me. I had to go to his house where his dad would molest him because my parents were working. I told my family I didnt want to go there because of what wad going on and no one believed me. How can you say I was asking for it? Everytime I screamed and cried, begging for him to stop, he just laughed. And so do you. You all just laugh and think irs funny!? How dare you! You out of all people cant judge anyone because yoyr comments are as hurtful as being raped.

Sarah, CA

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, Starting at age 6 years old, I was sexually assaulted. It began with an uncle, then a grandfather. I was molested & raped far too many times to count. I could go into graphic detail of what was done to me, but that would take page after page of describing so many experiences I vividly remember to this day. Around the age of 8 years old I told my mother about being raped. No one knew what to do. Since then, I continued to be abused & raped by family members during my childhood & pre-teen years and then was raped as an adult 3 different times by 3 different perpetrators. Even though one incident is more than anyone should suffer, the times I was sexually assaulted as a child carved lies, fear, shame & immeasurable pain into the foundation of my being & how I functioned from that point on. From a low self-esteem to severe depression, PTSD & other anxiety disorders, family & other interpersonal conflicts, self-mutilation, eating disorders, a disabling pain condition to many suicide attempts, all of these things were the direct result of being raped as a child. I don't know how my life would look if I had not been victimized by rape - which I believe is the worst crime against a human being - but I do know & experience nearly 30 years later the torture of the effects of being raped as a child. To be sure, I have: seen many doctors; attended several in & out patient treatment programs; been involved in psycho-therapy for more than 15 years; taken many different kinds of prescription medications; & have tried several alternative treatment methods all to help me recover from & continue to deal with the trauma of being raped. My life is more of an attempt to survive each day & night rather than something I can enjoy & use productively on a regular basis. Being raped is not something one can just forget about & move on. It can affect a person for an indefinite amount of time on physical, emotional, mental, psychological, relational & spiritual levels. Taking this into account, surviving rape & reclaiming oneself from the intrusion, violation, pain, & powerlessness that a rapist & being raped impose on the victim not only affects one's life significantly but can haunt a person indefinitely. Thankfully, there are amazing organizations & resources like RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network), Project Unbreakable, (which is an online resource), & many others that support victims of sexual abuse & assault. But they exist in the 1st place because the trauma & tragedy of sexual abuse & rape affects an innumerable amount of people across this country & around the world. I have worked with every fiber of my being to follow a path towards healing from being raped, yet I still suffer on a daily basis. I believe there are other survivors of rape who can empathize with me; but if you have never been raped, how can you go about defining it & determining what a rape survivor has experienced then needs in the aftermath? If you were to take into consideration that my body at age 6 years old was not capable of becoming pregnant, would what happened to me still be defined as "rape?" I certainly did not consent to being raped; I didn't even have the choice when I was a child. Neither did I have a choice when I was an adult. Would it have only been considered rape if it occurred after my body was physically able to become impregnated and exactly during the time in my menstrual cycle when becoming pregnant is most likely? Should the definition of rape depend on narrowing it down to such things? Wouldn't it be a more valuable use of time & effort to work towards preventing rape in the 1st place and helping support rape victims than to "redefine rape?" No matter your words or beliefs, a rape survivor, such as myself, knows that being raped is nothing short of agonizing torture. Perhaps you should consider consulting other rape victims or doctors & specialists who try to help rape victims to understand & define rape for your personal sake & political agenda. After all, shouldn't you be representing people & using your political position for their safety, health, & well-being rather than imposing your beliefs, morals, ideas on them?

Natalie, IL

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was sexually assaulted. Luckily, I did not become pregnant--but that is just it: I was extremely lucky. Your attitudes towards women, our bodies, and our rights concerning our bodies are all disheartening, so say the least. Men and women are equals, and yet women are treated as subordinates who cannot possibly make informed, intelligent decisions without the help of men. This way of thinking needs to change, and I suggest it begin to change with you, right here and now. Be a force for good--not for hate, not for malevolence, not for male supremacy.

Mary, OK

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was sexually assaulted as a child, at 8 years old. We didn't have better education to prevent children from being more at risk 1979, nor did we have stronger laws like the ones we do now that were put in motion in a significantly B-Partisan manner.

Susan, NY

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was raped in 1983 when I was only 15 years old. I was at a high school party, drinking like everyone else. The host of the party asked a friend of his to drive me home. Instead of taking me home, he took me to his parents house (they were out), plied me with more alcohol, and raped me. I protested the entire time but he was bigger than me and I couldn't get him off of me. Afterwards he dumped me on a street corner and I finally found my way home in the early hours of the morning. I was hysterical, my parents had already called the police when I hadn't returned home and when I told them I had been raped my mother took me to the hospital where they used a "rape kit" to examine me and immediately gave me a pill that would provoke an abortion if I had been impregnated. We filed a report with the police and they picked up the rapist a few days later. The police and a female prosecutor met with me after I correctly identified the rapist and advised me not to press charges. They told me I would be victimized a second time by the American court system where I would be portrayed as having "asked for it" since I had been drinking. To this day I don't understand the correlation between a woman drinking and sex and I had been coherent enough to give such a detailed description of my rapist and the house he had taken me to that they had found him and arrested him. I was a minor and my parents wanted to spare me any further indignity and pain so they took the advice of the representatives of the American justice stystem and dropped the charges. I grew up forever scarred emotionally, became promiscuous during my adolescence, and with a belief that somehow being raped was my fault, that it wasn't a "legitimate" rape. I became a drug addict and was institutionalized in psychiatric hospitals twice before I finally got clean. How would you feel if this happened to your 15 year-old daughter? Unfortunately, as a man you will never be able to understand or truly relate to my experience, or how it has changed me and my relationships with men forever. Rape is rape. There are no gradations in the effect it has on the victims, it is always life-changing and devasting, in whatever form it takes place.

Cynthia, NE

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I was drugged and raped by one of Pennsylvania's worst serial date-rapists. Myself and the other women assaulted by this man although suffered greatly prevailed by the support of each other and the justice system to send him to prison for Life. Your views on rape and unfounded medical information are offensive to me. The fact that you used the word "legitimate" means that you haven't taken the time necessary to speak intelligently about your views and opinions. Every time you grant another interview and stubbornly move forward with your campaign hurts every woman and man that has been sexually assualted. Please step into the shadows permantly. You are not fit to represent your state or this proud country for that matter.

JoAnn, NJ

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives, I experienced a sexual assault by a janitor in my high school, and then again by a Resident Adviser in college. When I was 15 and in the winter Musical Theater production, we stayed after school for rehearsals, and would often go to the cafeteria to purchase soda from the vending machines. In order to get there, we had to enter doors to the industrial arts corridor, and then exit through doors at the other end which led to the cafeteria. One evening, during dress rehearsal when we were in the building late in the evening, a few of us went to purchase soda and found the doors to the cafeteria locked. A janitor came through the entry doors to the corridor and we asked if he would open the cafeteria doors. He said yes, but only if I would give him a kiss. None of us moved as we thought this was a joke, but it wasn't. He approached me and insisted that I kiss him. At that moment fear befell all three of us, but what could we do? We were trapped between locked doors and a very large man. He lowered his face to mine and as a confused 15 year old, I gave him a small peck on the cheek so he would go away. He said, and I quote, "you call that a kiss?" My friends and I ran to get past him to the other door, at which point he laughed and said he was only "joking," and unlocked the other doors. We didn't bother turning around and going back. To this day my stomach turns when I remember that incident, and I wish that I had thought to tell someone, but I had never been taught that what he did was grossly inappropriate and a sexual assault - I had, however, been taught to be polite and respect my elders, which was what allowed my 15-year-old-self to be victimized. As you know, and RA is a fellow college student who is employed by a university to support and advise younger students on the floor of a dormitory. I both lived and worked in the dorm as welcome desk staff, and had to work with the perpetrator both before and after the assault. I was 20 years old. One evening during second semester I had gone to this RA's room, which was kitty-corner to my own, to talk and seek some needed stress relief. I was under stress, emotionally drained, and inadvertently fell asleep while he took a phone call. I don't know how long I was asleep, nor what time it was when I was awoken, but what woke me was the feeling of something heavy pressing down on my back (I was on my stomach). In my just-waking-up state, I slowly realized that the heaviness was also moving, and it was moving up and down against my body. I realized I was being violated by the RA. I found myself gripped by terror without any knowledge of what to do - I was alone and pinned down and all I could do was stay still and hope he wouldn't do something worse. He "finished" and left me there, sticky and disgusting and feeling completely humiliated and ashamed, and acted as if I had been asleep the entire time. I couldn't leave until the next morning, and then, to add insult to injury, not only did I have to continue to live kitty-corner to him the rest of the year, I had to work with him later the same day. When I told him to stay away from me, he had the unmitigated gall to act surprised and ask me why I was upset. I didn't have the words to describe what had happened to me until after I sought professional counseling, because I, apparently similar to you, was uneducated about rape and sexual assault, and thought that only strangers committed rape by jumping out of dark places. At 20 years old, I learned that this is a myth in the most sickening way possible. My body didn't shut down, BECAUSE IT CAN'T, that's not how biology works and if you don't know that you should go back to school and take a biology course in human growth and development with an emphasis on WOMEN'S bodies. Even after counseling, and decades later, I still get sick to my stomach and want to throw up just retelling what happened.

Clara, MI

Dear Rep. Akin and like-minded conservatives: I have been the victim of rape twice in my life, both times horrible, degrading, frightening and life-changing. The first time I was raped, I was 19 years old and living in my first apartment. I was awakened in the middle of the night to the feel of a knife at my throat and a stranger whispering in my ear, telling me that if I made a sound, he would kill me. There are no words to describe the terror of that moment and I will not live long enough to forget that sickening fear or the disgust at the memory of his touch. He used no force, other than threats of death. I did not scream or fight or resist, I was too afraid. When he left, I had no marks that you could see, but I was wounded. Would you consider this a legitimate rape? The second time I was raped, I was 22, I went to a small party with a friend. There were a few people there that I did not know, but they were friends of friends so I figured they must be ok. Because of my first rape, I was cautious and did not trust easily, but I felt no danger or trepidation. I remember accepting my 2nd drink. That is the last thing that I remember, except for a few hazy images of someone on top of me. Just quick snapshots of a face before I passed back into oblivion. I woke up on my friends couch, alone, with the feeling that my body had been used. I could not prove that I was drugged and raped, but I knew that is what had happened to me. I will never know what was done to me that night or by whom. I told no one. Again, I did not fight or scream or resist, I could not, I was drugged. I had no visible marks on my body to prove that I was hurt, but I was hurt. Would you consider this a legitimate rape? If your daughter, or sister or mother were in either of those situations, which category would you have put each rape into? Which would be legitimate or illegitimate? Which one would you consider a forceful rape? Which would be their fault and not the fault of the rapist? Which one do you think, if they happened to be ovulating, would have caused then to become pregnant, and which would have shut that whole thing down? There are no categories of rape. Rape is Rape is Rape. It hurts with or without visible scars, it degrades, it robs victims of their innocence, security, trust. It leaves wounds that take years and therapy and faith to overcome and still, sometimes never heals. It is the ultimate control of one person over another and the weapon used more than any other.

Karen, TX

To Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: As a young victim of rape/sexual assault, I became pregnant during my senior year in college. This event happened before Roe vs Wade was in place, and I subsequently obtained an illegal abortion. Not only was the assault an horrific event, the illegal abortion was degrading and venal because after the exorbitant fee was paid, the doctor demanded sex for his service. As a result of these insults, I was twice made a victim as well as a criminal.

Anonymous

Dear Todd Akin and like-minded conservatives: I am a 62 year old woman who was raped when I was 23 years old. My life was changed in ways that can still be measured today and impact me physically, emotionally; most significantly, I am impacted spiritually. There is no end to the horror I experienced as my sense of innocence was drained from my body as I was being raped. The fear of mutilation and my parents having to identify my pummeled body still overwhelms me at times. The fear of pregnancy and having to deliver the rapist's child left me suicidal. Fear of intimacy and being touched is a daily struggle. The struggle to get through night terrors and hold on to the goodness of life can be overwhelming. There are days I see all women as potential victims and all men as potential perpetrators of sexual violence through not only their actions, but their silence in the face of ignorant comments like those you made recently. Rape is not about sex! It is a crime of violence where the victim suffers more than you can imagine. Like me, weapons are involved in many rapes, be they guns, knives, or the hands of the rapist. Saying 'No!' is not an option when a knife is held to your neck and a gun waved in your face! This does not mean the victim wants 'sex'...it means they fear for their life!!! To use this thought process would be like saying the man wanted to be robbed because he had a wallet he carried, or a TV in his home...or a nice car!

Anonymous

1. When I was about 8 walking home form school, a man stoped his car, got out and exposed himself to me. 2. For most of my childhood and teen years our dentist set his instruments on my chest. I hated that he always touched my breasts when he picked them up. But I was afraid to say anything. I stoped going to him as soon as I was able. Many years later he was convicted and jailed for sexual abuse of girls. I always felt guilty that I didn't report it and prevent all the subsequent abuse.

Ann, WA

I was raped twice, both by former sexual partners. I thought at the time that I was just being "forced" but I realized that when a woman is fighting and shouting no no please stop that it rape. I wasn't beaten up. In your book I guess that wasn't a legitemate rape.

Danette, OR

Dear Rep Akin and his fellow conservatives: As a woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a pre-teen I can tell you that Rep. Akin's stance on abortion shows his total lack of sensitivity. So after dealing with the unwanted advances of a man that outweighed me by 100 pounds, who snuck into my room to assault me, I would be forced to keep a little reminder of that assault? So not only does everyone know something I'd prefer to forget, if I don't tell this story that I've never told my parents I would be branded as a slut by my community. When I did NOTHING wrong. Are you insane? Think of the recent Jerry Sandusky trial. It took YEARS for those victims to come forward, too ashamed and afraid to tell what they experienced. On top of that you want to add a pregnancy? Put your daughter or wife in that situation. Abortion is LEGAL in the U.S. and needs to remain that way. Yes, you can oppose it. As I oppose your hateful stands on many issues. But we live in a FREE COUNTRY and should not force our beliefs off onto others.

Kimberly, MD

At age 18, freshly out of high school with the ink barely dry on my diploma I met a guy and naively thought he might be the one. We met at the mall like most kids do. We talked and hung out in public places before making plans to have dinner at his home. When we got there I found things to be different. We were far from my home, I didn't know where we we're and I didn't have a phone to call for help. I was forced to have sex with him or be stranded alone with no way home or even to the nearest gas station with a pay phone. There are all types of sexual assault but only one type of rape.

Manetric, IN