“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare. … If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

So, let’s break this down piece by piece.

Akin, backed up by some unnamed, unaffiliated “doctors,” thinks when a woman is raped, it’s almost impossible for her to become pregnant.

In reality, about 5 percent of pregnancies are caused by rape, according to real, named doctors at the Medical University of South Carolina-Charleston. There’s no data backing up the idea that a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant depends on whether she consents to sex.

Akin also makes the distinction between rape and “legitimate rape.” Not only is there no data to back up the claim unwanted sex causes more pregnancies than consensual sex, but anyone who’s ever visited MU’s Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center can tell you there’s no such thing as “legitimate rape.” Rape is rape, no question about it.

The fact that rape is rape, no exceptions, needs to be clarified to an 11-year Missouri politician is not only embarrassing, it’s unsettling. One in six American women is the victim of attempted or completed rape, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. That’s 17.7 million women, and with the majority of rapes going unreported, that number is likely an understatement.

By describing some rapes as more legitimate than others, Akin has delegitimized the experiences of thousands of Americans. The people Akin targets in his statement are women who have gone through the pain of rape and have been impregnated by their rapists. Now they’re being told by someone meant to represent them in Congress that if it had been “legitimate” rape, they wouldn’t have become pregnant. And no matter how much Akin says he was speaking “off the cuff” or how much he apologizes, it was said. A Missouri representative had this thought. No Missourian should stand for that, regardless of where he or she falls on the political spectrum.

Thankfully, political leaders have almost overwhelmingly come out against Akin’s statements. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney called the remark “insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong,” and President Barack Obama said, “The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people and certainly doesn’t make sense to me.”

If anything good can come out of Akin’s ignorant remarks, it’s this. Through all the bashing, liberals and conservatives were at least able to agree on an issue. Politicians who are outspoken and ill-informed on sensitive social issues, like rape, just don’t belong in office. It’s up to officials and voters to make sure people like Akin never come into power.

Several politicians from both parties are calling on Akin to drop out of the Missouri Senate race, and we can’t say we would complain. Fifty-four percent of Missourians wish he would drop out, but Akin is promising to see his bid through to November. Unless he acts Tuesday, he’ll be on the ballot by Missouri law.

Voters need to keep Akin’s views on social issues in mind. Regardless of your take on abortion, comments like his just aren’t acceptable, especially for a Missouri representative. As far as his bid for the senate seat, it will be voters’ jobs to “shut that whole thing down.”