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A week ahead of the Republican National Convention, the GOP released its draft party platform yesterday. The ordinarily contentious issue of abortion was quickly dispensed with as party representatives accepted the same plank from four years ago, that includes supporting a so-called “fetal personhood” amendment to the US Constitution, and denying abortion in all cases including rape and incest, except in small instances when the life of the mother is at risk.

The adoption of the extreme stance on abortion is in odds with the majority opinion in the US. It also comes in the middle of a raging controversy over comments made on Sunday by GOP Representative Todd Akin who is running for the US Senate. In comments made during an interview, Akin answered a reporter’s question about abortion in the case of a pregnancy from rape saying “from what I understand from doctors that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin was repeating a commonly held belief among the anti-abortion community that rape rarely leads to pregnancy. Since then, he has apologized for using the term “legitimate” to describe rape and has released an ad admitting “[t]he fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy.” Still he has vowed to remain in the race amid a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and even his own party, with some Republicans calling for his immediate withdrawal from the Senate race.

Presumptive GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Akin’s comments “insulting” and “inexcusable.” But Romney and his Vice Presidential running mate, Paul Ryan hold general views on abortion that are quite in line with Todd Akin and the party platform. Romney’s views have evolved over the years from being pro-choice to being anti-abortion except in cases of rape, while Ryan is even more absolute in his views being against abortion in all cases with no exception. Ryan once co-sponsored a bill with Todd Akin seeking to withdraw federal funding of abortions for those rape victims who are not victims of so-called “forcible rape.”

GUEST: Nancy Cohen, historian and author. Her latest book, just out in paperback is called Delirium: The Politics of Sex in America