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John Charles Willke (April 5, 1925 – February 20, 2015) was an American author, physician, and anti-abortion activist. He served as president of National Right to Life and, along with his wife Barbara, authored a number of books on abortion and human sexuality. Willke was a leading promoter of the false claim that women's bodies resist pregnancy from forcible rape, an idea which continues to be promoted by some anti-abortion politicians.

Life and career

Willke was born in Maria Stein, Ohio, the son of Marie Margaret (Wuennemann) and Gerald Thomas Willke. He graduated from Roger Bacon High School in 1942 and earned his M.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1948. In 1948, he married Barbara Hiltz, a nurse. Willke worked as a family physician in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was on the staff of the formerly named Providence and Good Samaritan hospitals. He stopped practicing medicine in 1988 in order to devote himself full-time to the anti-abortion movement.

In the 1950s and 60s, Willke and his wife taught abstinence-only sex education courses for the Catholic Church and became increasingly concerned by the abortion-rights movement. In the early 1970s, he founded Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati along with his wife to lobby against Roe v. Wade. In 1971, Willke and his wife wrote Handbook on Abortion, which sold over a million copies and was influential in the anti-abortion movement. Willke's use of graphic photography pioneered its prominence in anti-abortion materials. The book promoted the false belief that rape could not result in pregnancy, and claimed that women often fabricated accusations of rape.

In 1980, he became president of National Right to Life, the nation's oldest and largest anti-abortion organization. In the 1990s, Willke shifted the focus of his arguments away from fetal personhood and instead sought to present the anti-abortion movement as "compassionate to women", in response to opinion polling and test marketing which convinced him that this would be a more effective strategy.

Views on pregnancy via rape

Willke was a proponent of the concept that female rape victims have physiologic defenses against pregnancy, and thus that women rarely become pregnant after a sexual assault. Willke wrote in Christian Life Resources in 1999: "There's no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy". Willke claimed that for what he called "forcible rape" or "assault rape" (which Willke defined as separate from statutory rape) pregnancy is rare, resulting in only approximately four pregnancies per state per year. Research published in the Journal of American Obstetrics and Gynecology concluded rape "is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies". A separate study of 405 female rape victims of reproductive age found 6.4% became pregnant.

In an interview on August 20, 2012, following the Todd Akin rape and pregnancy controversy, Willke said: "This is a traumatic thing—she's, shall we say, she's uptight. She is frightened, tight, and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic." Willke's assertions were dismissed as false and outlandish by experts in obstetrics and gynecology. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stated that rape victims had no control over whether they became pregnant, adding that "to suggest otherwise contradicts basic biological truths". Michael Greene, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive health at Harvard Medical School, dismissed Willke's claims by saying: "There are no words for this—it is just nuts."

Political affiliations

Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign embraced Willke as "an important surrogate for Governor Romney's pro-life and pro-family agenda", and Romney expressed pride to "have the support of a man who has meant so much to the pro-life movement in our country."

After Todd Akin, a U.S. representative from Missouri, made a controversial remark about rape and pregnancy, stating "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy, Willke publicly defended Akin, saying he believed Akin meant to say "forcible rape" not "legitimate rape". The congressman was facing criticism over the phrase "legitimate rape", which was taken to suggest some forms or rape are acceptable. Akin confirmed he misspoke and that Willke was correct in that he did mean to say "forcible rape".

In August 2012, Willke wrote Mitt Romney a letter in which he wrote, "It's time for Republican leaders to rise to the level of Rep. Akin's principle and courage and stand with him and the Republican platform that stands for the protection of every human life." Willke told the Washington bureau of The Daily Telegraph that he had met with Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, and Romney had praised him saying, "thank you for your support – we agree on almost everything, and if I am elected President I will make some major pro-life pronouncements."

Books and booklets

• Handbook on Abortion ISBN 978-0910728140 First published in 1971, the Handbook on Abortion is an anti-abortion booklet written and published by Willke and his wife. The booklet has been widely distributed, republished, and translated, and has been influential in shaping anti-abortion thought, according to journalist Linda Greenhouse.
• Abortion and Slavery: History Repeats ISBN 978-0685087824
• How to Teach Children the Wonder of Sex: a guide for parents and teachers ISBN 978-0910728171
• Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia, Past & Present ISBN 978-0910728225
• Abortion, Questions and Answers: Why Can't We Love Them Both ISBN 978-0318351650
• Abortion and the Pro-life Movement: An Inside View (2014)

References

1. ^ Smyth, Julie (August 24, 2012). "Ohio doctor helps perpetuate rape pregnancy ideas". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
2. "Anti-Abortion Advocate Dr. John Willke Dies at 89 in Ohio". abcnews.go.com. February 21, 2015. Archived from the original on February 21, 2015.
3. Who's who in Religion. Marquis Who's Who. 1992. ISBN 9780837916040.
4. "Cincinnati News, Sports and Things to Do | Cincinnati Enquirer". Enquirer.com. June 13, 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
5. ^ Stafford, Ned (2015). "John C Willke". BMJ: British Medical Journal. 350 (may27 12): h2416. doi:10.1136/bmj.h2416. ISSN 0959-8138. JSTOR 26520200. S2CID 57197317.
6. "Life Issues Institute, Inc. - Dr. Willke". Archived from the original on May 24, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2010. Life Issues.org
7. ^ Rosen, Kenneth R. (February 22, 2015). "John C. Willke, Doctor Who Led Fight Against Abortion, Dies at 89". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
8. ^ Siegel, Reva B. (2012). "Abortion and the "Woman Question": Forty Years of Debate". Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository.
9. Willke, John (April 1999). "Rape Pregnancies Are Rare". Life Issues Connector. Christian Life Resources. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
10. Kliff, Sarah (August 20, 2012). "Rep. Todd Akin is wrong about rape and pregnancy, but he's not alone". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
11. Holmes, MM; Resnick, HS; Kilpatrick, DG; Best, CL (August 1996). "Rape-related pregnancy: estimates and descriptive characteristics from a national sample of women". American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 175 (2): 320–324. doi:10.1016/S0002-9378(96)70141-2. PMID 8765248.
12. ^ "Health Experts Dismiss Assertions on Rape". The New York Times. August 21, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
13. Dellorto, Danielle (August 22, 2012). "Experts: Rape does not lower odds of pregnancy". CNN.
14. ^ Gardner, Amanda (August 21, 2012). "No Truth to Akin's Claim That Rape Hinders Pregnancy, Experts Say". U.S. News & World Report.
15. Lee, Kristen (August 21, 2012). "Pro-life doctor John Willke, linked to Akin's 'forcible rape' claims, endorsed Romney in 2007". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
16. "Dr. John Willke, A Founder Of The Pro-Life Movement Nationally & Internationally, Endorses Gov. Romney". December 27, 2007. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
17. Pesta, Abigail (August 21, 2012). "Todd Akin Finds a Friend in Dr. John Willke, a Pro-Life 'Founding Father'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
18. Mascaro, Lisa; Kim Geiger (August 21, 2012). "campaign 2012 Latest News / Battleground States / Fundraising / Super PAC Spending / Political Cartoons / Opinion Todd Akin touts support from crusader who espoused theories on rape". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
19. Swaine, Jon (August 22, 2012). "US election: Mitt Romney met Todd Akin doctor Jack Willke during 2012 campaign". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
20. "The Rhetoric That Shaped The Abortion Debate". National Public Radio. June 28, 2010. Retrieved June 30, 2010.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN

• American anti-abortion activists
• Physicians from Ohio
• 2015 deaths
• Ohio Republicans
• 1925 births
• People from Mercer County, Ohio
• Activists from Ohio