McCaskill: Rape Remarks Are A 'Window Into Todd Akin's Mind'
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on Monday said that it was "jaw dropping and stunning" for her Republican opponent for Senate to claim that women who are victims of "legitimate" would not get pregnant. "This statement is kind of window into Todd
"It seems to me, first of all, what I understand from doctors is that’s really where—if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said.
In a statement on Sunday, Akin claimed that he "misspoke," but added that he still believes "deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action."
McCaskill insisted on Monday that the "legitimate" rape remark was part of a pattern of fringe views held by Akin.
"He wants to abolish the minimum wage," the Missouri senator noted. "Back when he was in the Missouri Legislature, he had a hard time getting comfortable with the notion that we would make martial rape illegal. He indicated at the time that he thought that could make for messy divorces. ... You know, this is a very, very, very, very, very, very conservative person.
"He may be acting like he was backtracking but he didn't say he was wrong," McCaskill continued. "He is now acknowledging that someone can become pregnant when they have been raped. But what he said in his statement was that it was rare, there was something in the women's body that could, you know, shut down a pregnancy because if it was a 'legitimate' rape. He hasn't said that's a wrong statement, he hasn't apologized for that statement."
"And he doubled down on the notion that not only should rape victims not be entitled to terminate a pregnancy, the morning after he was nominated, he was given an opportunity to talk about the morning after pill and he said that the did not think that a rape victim should be allowed to take the morning after pill, which science tells you that is not terminating a pregnancy. That's just a mega-dose of birth control that prevents a pregnancy from occurring."
Akin has also co-sponsored a bill with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and many other House Republicans that would have redefined rape, saying that only victims of "forcible rape" would qualify for federally funded abortions.
"It’s basically putting more restrictions on what was defined historically as rape," NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan told The Daily Beast in 2011.