Syracuse area rape survivor and women's advocate Renee Devesty has written a powerful narrative on the website Salon.com related to the current political firestorm brewing over comments made by a Missouri U.S. Senate Candidate. 

In her article, Devesty reveals she was raped at 19 and became pregnant during the attack. Later, amid a storm of emotion, she terminated the pregnancy 

"I was mentally, emotionally and spiritually broken, and the thought of what had resulted from this vile act took my self-hatred into another dimension. I wanted no memory of that night, would do anything possible to erase it in the hope that it would somehow ease the sick, disgusting feeling I got every time I looked in the mirror. I realized that in order to maintain what little sanity I had left, I had to terminate the pregnancy," Devesty writes in Salon.

Devesty, who won a CBS 5 Women In Leadership award and a Sister Mary Vera Award from Vera House, takes direct aim at Akin's comments made last weekend about rape and abortion. In Salon she writes directly to the Congressman who has refused repeated calls to exit the race for Senate, "You don't know what it is like to have your sacredness ripped away, ferociously taken without your permission. A pregnancy resulting from rape is a reminder of violence, hatred and brutality forced upon your body. And to tell a woman who has gone through the horror of being raped - which can and does, in fact, result in pregnancy - that she again does not have the power or control to decide what happens to her body afterward is an outrage of epic proportions."

Click here to read the full narrative by Renee Devesty. 

Click here for the latest on how the Akin scandal is being covered in the capital of Missouri. 

Click here to watch Rep. Akin's apology commercial.

Staff at Vera House in Syracuse are concerned that Akin's comments could deter rape victims from coming forward. Vera House works with victims of domestic and sexual abuse. Education Director Loren Cunningham said "Rape is an under-reported crime. There are millions of people out there in our country that have experienced this horrific crime and who don't come forward and speak about it - and I think attitudes like that are part of what keeps people from stepping out, from getting help."

Vera House has a 24 hour hotline for anyone who is a victim or who knows someone who has been a victim of domestic abuse, rape or sexual assault. The number is (315) 468-3260.