Senate Candidate Says Rape Doesn't Cause Pregnancy

Because ... magic? Claire McCaskill helped this guy become her opponent, for good reason

Rep. Todd Akin, the newly-christened GOP Senate nominee in Missouri, said in an interview airing 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."

Comments

[Lord Rae]

The worst part about his comment is that he is a sitting member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. ugh.

[Randian]

Hmm, these two things don't look the same to me:

Senate Candidate Says Rape Doesn't Cause Pregnancy

and

"First of all, from what I understand from doctors, (pregnancy from rape) is really rare,"

[Jesse James Dean]

I was thinking the same thing. Violent forcible rape causes a lot of stress to the woman and can cause her to spontaneously abort. He is actually correct.

[LarryA]

"legitimate rape"

[hurl]

[Jesse James Dean]

I think he is talking about violent or forcible rape, as opposed to statutory or date rape... or false accusations.

[Brian from Texas]

This guy's a total scumbag. As much as I hate that Socialist who occupies that Senate seat now, I find Christian supremacist fascists like Akin an even bigger threat to the American way of life.

[Sy]

From what I understand, the human body is incredibly inefficient wrt developing an embryo to full term. Isn't it like 30-50% of pregnancies end in miscarriage before the 2nd trimester before taking into consideration other forms of spontaneous abortion?