Mike Huckabee, Dr. Fay Boozman And God's Little Protective Rape Shield

Mike Huckabee wants to amend the U.S. Constitution (1) so it's in God's standards, (2) to ban abortion, and (3) to say that life begins at conception.

Sorry, but that's not good enough! Unless, and until, Mike Huckabee vows to amend the Constitution to ban physiology and to say that God's little RapeShield(TM) controls conception I for one shall scoff in his general direction.

I sense some of you are not familiar with the role God's RapeShield(TM) plays in conception. Allow me to educate you.

In 1999 Gov. Mike Huckabee appointed Dr. Fay Boozman, an ophthalmologist who served on the medical advisory board for a "crisis pregnancy center", as the head of Arkansas Department of Health.

Dr. Boozman became [in]famous for passing off personal belief and/or religious propaganda as medical opinion when, during a 1998 failed state senate campaign, he stated that "pregnancies from rape are rare because of 'God's protective little shield'." [The WaPo, reports that Dr. Boozman denied he attributed the phenomenon to "God's little shield," as the local paper reported....]

According to the person who was appointed head of the Arkansas Department of Health by Gov. Huckabee, it's unlikely for women to get pregnant during rape because an adrenaline rush triggered by fear causes hormonal changes that block a woman's ability to conceive during a violent attack.

When asked to justify his [own] ignorance of medical matters, Dr. Boozman apologized for - wait for it! - causing hurt feelings but refused to retract his statement that rape rarely results in pregnancy because of RapeShield(TM) hormones. Although admitting that he was not quoting a scientific study, he insisted that he was sharing his personal observations as a doctor.

Right, 'cause as we all know "sharing a medical observation" and "hiding behind medical credentials to spout malicious nonsense" are one and the same thing. Not.

Medical observation

If you see a lot of reproductive age patients who've been raped AND who are not using contraception at the time of the rape (or aren't postpartum, or breastfeeding, or have a history of infertility, etc.) AND who have not received the proper medical care (no pregnancy prophylaxis) AND you are their primary care physician and see them in the immediate post rape period AND you have good follow up AND you test and find that most do not become pregnant, saying that it appears that pregnancies as a result of rape are rare among YOUR patient population is a medical observation.

[Of course, this observation still doesn't allow you to say that rape victims are less likely to become pregnant because of hormonal changes that block a woman's ability of conceive during a violent attack.]

Propaganda

If you have no significant clinical experience with the patient population under discussion AND no supporting studies, saying that it's rare for women to get pregnant as a result of rape because their fear triggers hormonal changes that block conception is propaganda.

In the absence of clinical experience, population studies and invasive testing, the only way you can say that it's rare for young ladies to be impregnated during a rape because their fear triggers hormonal changes that block conception is if you have HormonoVision(TM) and you can look at a patient (or, better yet, imagine you're looking at a patient) and know exactly what's going on with her hormones and feedback loops. [And since you are not present at the time of the rape, you'd also need the BackInTime(TM) plug-in for your HormonoVison(TM).]

According to Gov. Huckabee, Dr. Boozman (who tragically died a couple of years ago in a farm accident) was one of my most trusted team members...."One of my happiest days as governor was when he became director of the Department of Health., and one of our finest ever and most pure-hearted public servants who loved others more than self and was incapable of anything other than statesmanship and kindness....

If a pure heart, love of others, kindness and an utter contempt and disregard for female patients and a sadistic, sacred, drive to demean them aren't enough of a basis to amend the Constitution I don't know what is.

Bottom line: Mike Huckabee's ignorance of basic science precludes him from being a competent public servant. His stated goal to impose a theocracy if he becomes president makes him a potential public danger.




(via)

Mike Huckabee. On Tape: I Want a Theocracy

***UPDATED***

"[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that's what we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards...."

Five minutes ago on MSNBC. Just heard Mike Huckabee at a campaign stop in Michigan saying that "...we need to change the constitution to include God, rather than (?expect God to change) change God to accommodate the constitution...."

The moron MSNBC host, Chris Jansing, totally misses the enormity of a presidential candidate admitting on tape that his goal as POTUS is to transform our country into a theocracy and talks with a Huckabee campaign manager about fluffy kittens.

NOTE: If you happen to have the clip, or know where to get it, please let me know. I want to make sure Huckabee said what he said (as opposed to, you know, the voices in my head).

UPDATE: I found a mention of the program (MSNBC's "All Politics" program with Chris Jansing today at 1:30 p.m). Jansing was talking to Sen. Hutchinson, and the clip in question aired right before that interview.

If you know how to get a hold of the clip please let me know.

UPDATE 2: Via Pam, the exact quote (bumped to top).