JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Rep. Todd Akin defied the nation’s top Republicans Tuesday to forge ahead with his besieged Senate campaign, declaring that GOP leaders were overreacting by abandoning him because of comments that women’s bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape.”
Akin pledged to carry on with his quest to unseat Democrat Claire McCaskill. But his bid faced tall obstacles: a lack of money, a lack of party support and no assurance that his apologies would be enough to heal a self-inflicted political wound.
“I misspoke one word in one sentence on one day, and all of a sudden, overnight, everybody decides, ‘Well, Akin can’t possibly win,’” he said on a national radio show hosted by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. “Well, I don’t agree with that.”
Akin predicted he would bounce back from the political crisis threatening his campaign and capture a seat that is pivotal to Republican hopes of regaining control of the Senate.
“I’m in this race for the long haul, and we’re going to win it,” he told radio host Dana Loesch in St. Louis.
If he stays on the ballot, Akin will have to rebuild without any money from the national party and with new misgivings among rank-and-file Republican voters who just two weeks ago propelled him to a comfortable victory in a hotly contested three-way primary.
In a potential sign of his strategy, Akin appealed Tuesday to Christian evangelicals, anti-abortion activists and anti-establishment Republicans. He said he remains the best messenger to highlight respect for life and liberty that he contends are crumbling under the big-government policies of President Barack Obama.
Akin appealed to that audience directly during his interview with Huckabee, making allusions to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and focusing on the idea he had only misplaced a single word during a Sunday interview with St. Louis television station KTVI.
But Akin has been roundly criticized both for using the words “legitimate rape” and saying a woman’s body has the ability to prevent conception after such an attack.
Hours earlier, Akin posted an online video in which he apologized again for his remarks. Campaign spokesman Ryan Hite said the apology was intended to cover both the reference to “legitimate rape” and Akin’s assertion that rape victims have a natural defense against pregnancy. The video will run as a 30-second ad on TV stations statewide for several days, Hite said.
Tuesday was the final day in which Akin could withdraw from the race without a court order. As the 5 p.m. deadline to withdraw neared, Republican leaders intensified their pressure on Akin to exit.
Sen. Roy Blunt issued a joint statement Tuesday with all four of Missouri’s living former Republican senators — John Ashcroft, Kit Bond, Jim Talent and John Danforth — saying “it serves the national interest” for Akin to step aside.
Pointing to the group, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the congressman should “accept their counsel.”
A Romney aide said the candidate had been inclined to let Akin make the decision on his own. But after the Missouri lawmakers called for Akin to go, Romney wanted to make his position clear, said the aide, who requested anonymity because the aide was not authorized to publicly discuss Romney’s thinking.
Akin provoked the political uproar when he was asked in the KTVI interview whether his general opposition to abortion extends to women who have been raped.
“It seems to me, first of all, 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 said.
It’s not clear if Akin’s campaign will have the financial support to wage a prolonged advertising battle against McCaskill in the expensive St. Louis and Kansas City markets and the Republican-rich area of southwest Missouri.
The campaign arm of the Senate Republicans has already withdrawn $5 million in advertising planned for the Missouri race. The Karl Rove-backed Crossroads organization pulled its ads, too.
Crossroads President and CEO Steven Law suggested Tuesday that Akin was potentially helping Democrats retain their Senate majority by remaining in the race.
“The stakes in this election are far bigger than any one individual,” said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. By staying in the race, Akin “is putting at great risk many of the issues that he and others in the Republican Party are fighting for.”
Without that financial backing, Akin will need the support of social conservatives, who have formed his political base through a 12-year congressional career.
Noreen McCann, who lives in the same suburban St. Louis area as Akin, said Tuesday that his rape comment hasn’t weakened her support for him. McCann expressed frustration that Akin was being publicly flayed for his ill-chosen words while other Democrats — specifically President Bill Clinton — have survived scandals that included accusations of sexual impropriety and lies.
Akin “is a man of principle. I trust and respect his integrity and his commitment to defending American values,” said McCann, who had passed out Akin fliers on primary election day. “I think he wants to defend all innocent human life. If he misspoke, or it was in the wrong context, that is not a major problem for me.”
But other Missouri Republicans are second-guessing their support for Akin.
Steven and Carolyn Sipes, a pair of retired public school teachers who are GOP committee members in southwest Missouri’s Christian County, both voted for Akin in the primary. Carolyn is now doing some soul-searching prayer about whether Akin remains the best choice. Her husband believes Republicans will have a better shot of unseating McCaskill without Akin.
“If he decides to stay in, I’ll back him to the hilt,” Steven Sipes said. But “I think it would be better probably if he did drop out at this point. He’s getting a lot of negative publicity.”
Akin’s campaign released an open letter Tuesday from Jack Willke, former president of the U.S. National Right to Life Committee, stating he was “outraged at how quickly Republican leaders have deserted” Akin.
Akin “remains a strong and courageous pro-life leader — and awkward wording in one sound bite doesn’t negate that,” Willke’s statement said.
You go get ’em Toddy boy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_hormone
Stress hormones act by mobilizing energy from storage to muscles, increasing heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate and shutting down metabolic processes such as digestion, reproduction, growth and immunity.
“the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down”
Wow, it almost seems like the release of stress hormones is EXACTLY what he meant.
Has wikipedia been changed in the last week?
the female body has ways (stress hormones)
try to shut that whole thing down”
shutting down metabolic processes such as … reproduction.
It’s almost as if Akin was reading exactly from Wikipedia. And everyone said he was stupid.
Shutting the whole thing down is EXACTLY what stress hormones do.
No it is not what it does.
Stress hormones do all of those things short term, ie for a matter of minutes or a couple hours in the case of digestion, that is why exercise can be used to reduce hungar pangs..
Sperm can and do live inside a woman for up to 72 hours or more while they migrate up the woman’s reproductive tract.
I don’t want to repeat the same thing twice.
We aren’t arguing now, though, about whether the female body has ways to shut it down.
We know that it does, Cortisol, but we’re arguing about how effective Cortisol is.
And if we’re arguing about the effectiveness of Cortisol, how long the effects last, we aren’t talking about absolutely ridiculous comments, as many, who don’t know anything about Cortisol, seem to think, because they’re just repeating what they hear on msm.
No, we are not talking about the same thing. Akin, and possible you, is someone who does not understand science and therefore misunderstands what he/you read on a webpage . There are two basic types of stress that affect the body differently.
There is long term, or chronic stress, that can and does alter how the body does a lot of things, including stopping a woman’s menstrual cycle from ovulating. That is what the stress hormone Cortisol can do. It also causes increased weight gain around a person’s midsection, stress on the heart and other internal organs and weakens brain activity and effectiveness. A short term violent incident like rape does not cause this type of reaction but instead causes acute stress.
Acute stress, or the reaction more commonly known as “Fight or Flight”, does not cause any of the symptoms of long term Cortisol exposure. The symptoms of acute stress are increased blood pressure and heart rate, depressed hunger, and increased blood flow to the muscle and eyes necessary for self defense. It does not stop a woman from ovalating or “closing down” any other reproductive activites. If a woman has ovulated recently before the attack or ovulates soon after the attack, 1 to 7 days before or after the attack, there is a chance the woman will become pregnant because of the attack.
It was, and always will be a rediculous statement and anyone who tries to defend it just shows that they do not understand how the Human body works.
Where did you get your medical degree?
Are you licensed to practice medicine in this or any other state?
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/SR00001
Cortisol also curbs functions that would be nonessential or detrimental in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes.
All of this is temporary and over in a matter of minutes while sperm can and do survive in the woman’s reproductive tract for up to 72 or more hours. While the body’s fight or flight mechanisms burns itself out after a few hectic minutes. The human body cannot stay in fight or flight stress for extended periods of time.
“In the proper environment, such as the female reproductive tract beyond the cervix, sperm have a life-span of up to five days..”
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_can_sperm_live
These are the words we’re talking about
“the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down”
and that’s true.
Cortisol.
Now we’re arguing about how effective the Cortisol is in shutting the whole thing down.
I don’t see the point in that particular argument. For me, it suffices that Cortisol is released in stressful situations like rape, and has anti-pregnancy effects.
That is known science. The earlier question had to do with whether or not Akin said something “stupid”. Many of the people calling Akin stupid have no idea of the existence of Cortisol, of stress hormones, and their anti-reproductive effects.
And look closely at “to try to”. “To try to” does not mean “100% effective in all cases for long periods of time”.
“Ways” = “Cortisol”
Here are some sites that will explain just how wrong AKin, and you, are.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/why-does-todd-akin-think-rape-victims-dont-get-pregnant/
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-08/rape-results-more-pregnancies-not-less
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/20/rep-todd-akin-is-wrong-about-rape-and-pregnancy-but-hes-not-alone/
The only reason the Republican’s are demanding Akin pull out of the race is they think he will have a hard time winning now, not because they disagree with what he said.
Anyone who knew him knew how he felt about women and their place in America.
Here’s some more science.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16866318We found confirmation that prolonged stress or the prolonged elevation of cortisol can impair reproductive processes in female pigs, but also found that there appear to be some female pigs in which reproduction is resistant to such treatments.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/35107Stress and female reproductive function: A study of daily variations in cortisol, gonadotrophins, and gonadal steroids in a rural Mayan populationIncreases in urinary cortisol levels were associated with significant increases in gonadotrophin and progestin levels during the follicular phase. Also, in a time window between days 4 and 10 after ovulation, increased cortisol levels were associated with significantly lower progestin levels. These results are significant because untimely increases in gonadotrophins and low midluteal progesterone levels have previously been reported to impinge on the ovulatory and luteinization processes and to reduce the chances of successful implantation (Ferin, 1999; Baird et al., 1999).
“.. found confirmation that prolonged stress or the prolonged elevation of cortisol can impair reproductive processes in female pigs..”
Your source points out that PROLONGED stress or elevated Cortisol can reduce the pregnancy rate in pigs. The key work is PROLONGED which is the exact opposite of a specific SHORT TERM event like a rape. Cortisol DOES NOT effect womens reproductive capablilities in the SHORT term.