By Paige Winfield Cunningham
Rep. W. Todd Akin more >
“Congressman Akin’s statements were wrong, offensive and indefensible,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Monday. “I recognize that this is a difficult time for him, but over the next twenty-four hours, Congressman Akin should carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party, and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service.”
And two Republican senators went even further, calling for Mr. Akin to resign from his bid to replace incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Sen. Scott P. Brown, who is locked in his own tight re-election battle in Massachusetts, said Mr. Akin’s statement was “so far out of bounds” that he should resign his nomination.
“As a husband and father of two young women, I found Todd Akin’s comments about women and rape outrageous, inappropriate and wrong,” Mr. Brown said. “There is no place in our public discourse for this type of offensive thinking.”
And Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who had endorsed one of Mr. Akin’s primary opponents, said he should step aside so Republicans can nominate “a candidate that can win in November.”
“Todd Akin’s statements are reprehensible and inexcusable,” Mr. Johnson said. “Gaining a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate and fixing the huge challenges that face our nation is more important than any one individual’s political ambitions.”
The fury came about after Mr. Akin suggested in a local television interview that women who are raped are unlikely to become pregnant, if it is a “legitimate rape.”
Politicians from both parties expressed outrage, with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney calling his comments “insulting” and Mrs. McCaskill accusing Mr. Akin of ignorance about the emotional and physical trauma experienced by rape victims.
She and other leading Democrats tried to tie the controversy to the national debate over abortion and women’s health benefits, with President Obama saying that Mr. Akin’s comment illustrates a problem of male politicians limiting which health care services women can obtain.
“What I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women,” Mr. Obama said.
While Mr. Akin has apologized, saying his comments don’t reflect his “deep empathy” for rape victims, he appeared to dig in his heels Monday, saying on Mike Huckabee’s nationally syndicated radio program that he has no plans to step down.
“I’m not a quitter,” Mr. Akin said. “I’ve really made a couple of serious mistakes here, and I need to apologize,” he said. “Rape is never legitimate.”
Asked on the St. Louis station KTVI-TV whether abortion should be legal in cases of rape, Mr. Akin said there are biological factors that make conception less likely when a woman is raped, but that even if she becomes pregnant, the rapist should be penalized instead of the fetus.
“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Mr. Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. 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 of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”
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