Mr. Akin, and how "legitimate rape" may have completely decided how I vote in November

I don't feel too strongly about most political topics. Or rather, more accurately, I can look at both sides of most political topics so I stay somewhat moderate (although I still have my personal opinions on things).

I can't feel the same way about Todd Akin. I really can't.

Saying "legitimate rape" implies that there is illegitimate rape. It implies that some women can claim they've been raped and some can't because it wasn't legitimate. And apparently, if it resulted in pregnancy, it wasn't legitimate.

Oh yeah. And if the woman orgasms, she must have enjoyed it. Because that's science.

I'm completely baffled by this. Completely baffled that Todd Akin thinks he can publicly say something like this, apologize by saying he "misspoke," and expect it to be all better.

Mr. Akin -- how many women do you know? Count them up. Then assume -- because this is the statistic -- that 25% of them have been sexually assaulted in her lifetime. How many daughters do you have? And don't think that, if they haven't been hanging around with the "wrong crowd," that they're off the hook. Rapists come in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, classes, etc. They come from all religions. Even yours.

Yes, let's celebrate people who have made something extraordinary of their lives (Huckabee, we're on to you now). But ignore the circumstances of their conception -- that has nothing to do with how successful they may or may not become in their lives. The people who are defending you, Mr. Akin, are STILL ignoring the victims of rape. This isn't a "every cloud has a silver lining" situation.

I've been lucky; I haven't been raped. I know people who have. I am humbled and proud, whenever I see them, of their courage. I am honored to call them my friends.

Mr. Akin, I'm a woman. I have the right to choose who has sex with me and who doesn't. Absolutely nobody else in this world has that right. And if anyone decides to take this right away from me -- no matter who they are -- I have the right to call it what it is by it's proper name: rape. I don't have to qualify it with adjectives.

And if a hypothetical child comes from rape, that doesn't change the circumstances of the rape. That means that one of the sperm from the rapist fertilized an egg of the victim. That's it. There are no "special juices" that failed in their task of preventing rape pregnancy -- those juices don't exist. I've known this since 6th grade, when I got sex ed. And I know this now because I've educated myself on my body and what it does.

Mr. Akin and his friends who choose to defend him are doing a lot to influence my vote. He's lucky I'm not in Missouri -- but in this upcoming national election, I really don't want to help put anyone in office who might feel similarly to Mr. Akin and his cronies. My vagina wouldn't want to be seen in public with me if I did.