Americans by and large think of the challenges these women face as daunting, yet far removed from the realities of most women living in the U.S. for whom the protection of women’s reproductive rights have been legislated into law.

That was until Saturday, 19 August 2012, when Republican Congressman Todd Akin stated a position that is widely held by conservative Americans but rarely voiced. The belief that a woman cannot get pregnant through rape, with a subtext that is much more revealing because it implies that if a woman is raped and gets pregnant then she must have wanted it and is only afterward crying foul.