Celeste Greig, president of the California Republican Assembly, is feeling the heat from progressive grassroots organizations calling for her resignation after she stated earlier this month that pregnancies from rape are rare.
On Monday, advocacy group the Courage Campaign said it will deliver over 28,000 signatures calling for Greig's immediate resignation to the California Republican Party headquarters, the Raw Story reports.
The petition, collected on MoveOn.org's petition site, SignOn.org, addresses Greig directly, stating that, "Rape is indeed traumatic, but it can produce pregnancy. That's biology. Your suggestion that the chance of pregnancy is lower is offensive and denies scientific reality."
The petition calls for all politicians who make incendiary remarks about rape to resign, but makes specific note of Greig.
"Celeste Greig (and other factually challenged politicians) need to resign from their high profile political positions so policy can be made based on science, not ideology," it reads.
Greig made her inflammatory remark about rape earlier this month, while attempting to criticize former Republican congressman and 2012 Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin over comments he made about "legitimate rape" rarely leading to pregnancy, because "the female body has ways to shut the whole thing down."
She said Akin had made an "insensitive remark," but proceeded to agree with Akin's claim that pregnancies rarely occur as a result of rape.
"The percentage of pregnancies due to rape is small because it's an act of violence, because the body is traumatized," Greig said.
But she admitted, "I don't know what percentage of pregnancies are due to the violence of rape. Because of the trauma the body goes through, I don't know what percentage of pregnancy results from the act."
Akin's comments were repudiated by women's advocacy groups, progressive organizations and doctors alike, as studies have shown that pregnancies are conceived by rape with disturbing frequency.
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