Rep. Todd Akin, the newly-christened GOP Senate nominee in Missouri, said in an interview that aired Sunday that “legitimate rape” rarely causes pregnancy.
Explaining his no-exceptions policy on abortions, Akin was asked why he opposes abortion even when the pregnancy is the result of rape.
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in a clip posted to YouTube by the Democratic super PAC American Bridge. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Akin added: “But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
Akin issued a statement Sunday afternoon saying he misspoke.
“In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year,” he said. “I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action.”
Akin’s statement threatens to recast a Senate race in which he starts as the favorite, but national Republicans are concerned about his ability to execute a winning strategy. Akin won the GOP nomination two weeks ago — a result that Democrats hailed as a potential game-changer in a tough race for them.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she was outraged by Akin’s claim.
“It is beyond comprehension that someone can be so ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma brought on by rape,” McCaskill said in a statement. “The ideas that Todd Akin has expressed about the serious crime of rape and the impact on its victims are offensive.”
According to a 1996 study by the Medical University of South Carolina, approximately 32,000 pregnancies result from rape annually in the United States, and about 5 percent of rape victims are impregnated.
“Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency,” the study says, according to an abstract. “It is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies and is closely linked with family and domestic violence.”
How anyone can support a m0r0n like this is beyond me.
The problem is way too many do support him and others like him.
“The problem is way too many do support him and others like him. ”
Were they all home schooled, too ?
WHAT A PIG OF A MAN IN THE MOST LOOSE SENSE OF THE WORD, who knows nothing and should be put down, God forbide a child of his was put into this position.
Years ago people believed his statement …. if a woman claimed she was raped and became pregnant then she wasn’t raped, it must have been consensual because a woman had to be aroused to get pregnant. IMO Mr. Akin did not misspeak, he really does believe that. The morning-after pill should be offered every woman who is a victim of rape as part of medical treatment, as it prevents the egg from attaching to the uterine wall, it would be a medically induced miscarriage ….. that is what happens in many cases of many natural miscarriages.
And in other idiotic statements by polititians, Rep Hank Johnson (D Ga.) is afraid that the U.S. Territory of Guam is going to “tip over and capsize” due to overpopulation.
Oh Yeah…stupid comment (though I’d like to hear the context)…so tell me how this relates to an idiotic statement supporting policies that affect 50% of our population? And is just a good old GOP chestnut, dusted off and spouted as fact as we speed right back to a time when ignorance ruled.
Intelligence is not required to be a politician, just look at all of the Republicans.
and Democrats ….
Both these tools are (6 words) South of the Mason-Dixon Line.
This guy is just not very smart
What a dangerous and ignorant man. I find the fact that he’s on the Science Committee to be incredibly alarming as well.
The fact that he and Ryan co-sponsored a bill that attempted to redefine rape as “forcible” rape speaks wonders about Paul Ryan, too.
Good lawdy, Toddy – look at what you’ve gone and done, you featherhead!
Governor LePage’s long-lost brother?
You insult pigs.
This weekend is proving to stack the odds a wee bit against this extreme party. Todd’s completely stupid remarks coupled with the news of skinny dipping Republicans in the Sea of Galilee has convinced God himself to send hurricane Isaac to rain on their Florida parade next week. Simply Biblical.
And this . . . bleep . . . is running for a Senate seat. Party politics reaches a new low.
His kind of thinking is dangerous.
What a maroon. Another voice from the nutty base that thinks the rest of the country wants to be ruled with this kind of mindset.
The Republican party is digging up some certifiable sick candidates. To think that after the elections, if the Republicans get there way, we will be instantly thrown back into the stone age. I cannot believe that even a staunch Republican voter would allow that to happen. Lets hope not.
Sen. Claire McCaskill is probably having a pretty good Sunday. Her opponent in the Missouri Senate race, Republican Rep. Todd Akin, has spent most of the day backtracking after saying that victims of “legitimate rape” cannot biologically become pregnant and thus do not need access to legal abortions.
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy after rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in defense of his stand that rape victims should not be allowed to access abortions. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Akin said that even if a rape victim does somehow become pregnant, “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” This is from yahoo news this morning. Well thank you Todd Akin. I guess according to you I shouldn’t be here. Seeing my mother was Raped, She couldn’t get pregnant because of the RAPE! This offended figment of your Imagination hopes that this will bite you hard. You need to go get An Education!!!!! KEEP YOUR RELIGION OUT OF MY UTERUS!!!!!!!!!!
Your mother must be a VERY strong person! 8) Thank You for sharing your story!
The Party of Small Government cares a lot about your female private parts and wants to make sure that all your reproductive decisions are theirs and not yours.
Yessah
When I taught school I always kept dumb bells like him in the back row or in the hall..Figured that tax supported education would be wasted on him.
How different are these moronic comments from those who insist that one’s gender preference is wholly a matter of choice and could easily be changed if gays and lesbians were so inclined? In both cases the burden is put on the “deviant” by those who, like this would-be Senator, know nothing about the experience of being raped or being homosexual. The good news is that Sen. McCaskill’s chances for re-election in Missouri have been enhanced.
“Off the cuff” remarks…? BS. “Real” rape is in the common lexicon of pro-life zealots… It is a term that has been and is used regularly with people of this opinion, meaning rape that comes of a stranger and is violent… Nothing “off the cuff” about it. This is how this dolt thinks. This is how a large proportion of the gop thinks…
All part and parcel with YOYO (you’re on your own) safety nets policies, “just die quickly” health care policy, and “war and torture are glorious endeavors for our God-fearing nation” attitudes…
Make no mistakes about it, nuts like Akin and the crazy-seeds he’s trying to plant are what this next election is all about. A party that continually tries to get farther and farther Right. Keep going till you step Right off the cliff.
It should be noted that Paul Ryan co-sponsored abortion legislation with Akin which would re-define personhood allowing states to completely ban abortion (in all cases, even rape) and some forms of birth control.
Ladies, they’re gonna put y’all back in chains.
There is more truth than fiction in your statement.
Which is why I typed it.
Stick to the subject! You people are clouding common sense in the name of emotionalismand political correctnes. So every woman that claims to be raped is telling the truth? really?. What a joke. The guy is trying to make a point about abortions. Rapists need to be punished, innocent children should not be murdered.
Please support wide availability of the morning after pill which prevents the sperm from reaching the unfertilized egg.
If you really think a fertilized egg is a child, then what is your position as to the unused eggs from in vitro fertilization?
I have met many woman who have discussed rape. I have never met one who made it up.
Isn’t it far better to quickly provide the morning after pill than to question every victim’s veracity?
The common sense issue is that when people interbreed they wind up with eyes on the sides of their head. More importantly a woman should have TOTAL control of her reproductive choices and that is no ones business but hers.
All you less government people want less government unless it involves a woman’s body.
No, the issue is that step one when a women is raped you don’t treat her as the suspect. You don’t insinuate that if she was really raped, she wouldn’t be pregnant. That’s the issue and it’s nonsense. Introduce sperm to an egg and you can end up with a pregnancy. Period.
I see whats going on here!
Reagan threw all the crazy people out on the Street in the 80’s and gave them all Vote Republican Buttons and little American flags to wave and they have finally— come of age!
Could someone kindly respond to the meaning of the following paragraph. I do not understand it at all. Thank you.
“According to a 1996 study by the Medical University of South Carolina, approximately 32,000 pregnancies result from rape annually in the United States, and about 5 percent of rape victims are impregnated.”
5% of rape victims end up impregnated. Annually that amounts to 32,000.
I still don’t understand the paragraph. It says that 32,000 pregnancies are the result of rape per year in the United States. I guess I have no idea what the 5 percent of rape victims means? 5% of what? So is it 32,000 women become pregnant by rape or 5 percent of rape victims become pregnant – just a very confusing sentence.
Thank you for responding!!
OK – now I see!! Thank you!!
If there are over 700,000+- (according to different sources) rapes each year in the U.S. 35,000 pregnancies from those rapes would be roughly 5% of 700,000, the total number of rapes (again, + or -). That’s a LOT of women having to deal with pregnancies from rape.