Following Rep. Todd Akin’s ‘Legitimate Rape’ remarks, the Republican Party found itself forced to switch position.
In a statement issued Monday, Romney's campaign said a Romney administration would not oppose abortion in case of rape, a departure from the position of his vice presidential pick, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, who has proposed legislation that would outlaw abortion with no exception for rape.
All this happens after Republican nominee in Missouri said in a television interview on Sunday that women have biological defenses to prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape," making legal abortion rights unnecessary.
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in during the interview. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
The Republican nominee said that even in the worst-case scenario — when the supposed natural protections against unwanted pregnancy fail — abortion should still not be a legal avenue for the rape victim.“Let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work, or something,” Akin said. “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”
The remarks caused an uproar that energized Democrats and cast doubt on what had seemed a likely victory for the Missouri congressman over Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill. Republicans need to capture just four Democratic seats on November 6 to win a majority in the Senate.
President Barack Obama called the remarks offensive during a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room on Monday. "Rape is rape," said the president, whose re-election campaign has featured his contention that Republicans are waging a "war on women."
"And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we're talking about doesn't make sense to the American people -- and certainly does not make sense to me," he said.
In a statement, Akin said that he had misspoken.
Romney called Akin's comments "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly wrong" in an interview with the National Review online.
