Akin says he ‘misspoke’ about rape in interview

Todd Akin, Republican candidate for U.S. Senator from Missouri, speaks at the Missouri Farm Bureau candidate interview and endorsement meeting in Jefferson City. Photo by The Associated Press.

By The Associated Press

Sunday, August 19, 2012

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, the conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate, quickly backed off comments that aired earlier Sunday, in which he told an interviewer that a woman’s body “has ways” to prevent pregnancy during rape and that such pregnancies are “really rare.”

Akin, a six-term congressman running against incumbent Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill, was asked in an interview that aired Sunday on St. Louis television station KTVI if he would support abortions for women who have been raped.

“It seems to me first of all from what I understand from doctors that’s really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said of a rape victim’s chances of becoming pregnant.

He also said he would prefer that punishment for rape be focused on the rapist and not “attacking the child.”

Akin said in an emailed statement later Sunday that he “misspoke” during the interview, though the statement did not say specifically which points.

“In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it’s clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year,” Akin’s statement said. “Those who perpetrate these crimes are the lowest of the low in our society and their victims will have no stronger advocate in the Senate to help ensure they have the justice they deserve.”

Akin also said in the statement he believes “deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action.”

Akin was interviewed on KTVI’s “The Jaco Report,” and also talked about numerous campaign issues, such as voter ID laws, the economy and Medicare. KTVI said the interview was conducted earlier in the week.

McCaskill, who is seeking a second term, said in an emailed statement Sunday that she found the comments “offensive.”

“It is beyond comprehension that someone can be so ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma brought on by rape,” McCaskill said. “The ideas that Todd Akin has expressed about the serious crime of rape and the impact on its victims are offensive.”

This month, Akin won the state’s Republican U.S. Senate primary by a comfortable margin of victory. During the primary, Akin enhanced his standing with TV ads in which former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee praised him as “a courageous conservative” and “a Bible-based Christian” who “supports traditional marriage” and “defends the unborn.”

Akin, a former state lawmaker who first won election to the U.S. House in 2000, also has a long-established base among evangelical Christians, and was endorsed in the primary by more than 100 pastors.

Within hours of Akin’s win, McCaskill had cast him as a conservative extremist who would jeopardize seniors’ health care and retirement savings while putting college out of reach for all but the rich.

Akin countered by portraying McCaskill — one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the nation — as a budget-busting, tax-hiking, big-spending liberal.

More like this story

newone 9 months ago

What an idot, he just secured McCaskill another win!

newone 9 months ago

To think I was considering voting for this m*ron, McCaskill needs to go but I will vote for her any day over this fool.

jdb 9 months ago

Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said of a rape victim’s chances of becoming pregnant.

I am sure Akin did mispeak. He probably forgot to say, if a woman does become pregnant during a legitimate rape then that is also her fault too...........

rollnthndr 9 months ago

You can't explain this stupidity.

jdb 9 months ago

I would like to hear Akin define what he considers to be a LEGITIMATE rape.

JCLifer 9 months ago

Wives who won't perform their wifely duties?

BubbaD 9 months ago

More sickness.

asb 9 months ago

This it what we reap when the fields of the legislature are sown with ignorance and bigotry. The man is not educated enough to hold state office, let alone the federal senate. This is known technically as gibbering. In the absense of knowledge (a key policy goal of the extremist conservatives that have hijacked the GOP) one casts about for anything resembling fact, only to come up with something heard at a religious retreat for guys. Todd says he "misspoke." No, it would be impossible to misspeak something this complex and ingrained. He's not qualified to represent any but the most brutish and bigoted of Missourians. McCaskill has shown some room for improvement, but she exceeded Akin's qualifications by her fifth grade in school.

tonto_goldberg 9 months ago

I haven't found the origin of this bit of pseudoscience, but Akin did not invent this all by himself. The same ridiculous claim has been made before, by other politicians.

In 1995, US Rep Henry Aldridge said: "The facts show that people who are raped — who are truly raped — the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant."

In 1988, Pennsylvania Rep Stephen Friend said: "...the traumatic experience of rape causes a woman to "secrete a certain secretion" that tends to kill sperm."

eileen10 9 months ago

Speaking on behalf of all women who have been brutally raped, myself included, it's clear to see that his thinking is messed up in who knows how many ways and he can go to H..E..double tooth picks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gabrielle 9 months ago

eileen: speak for yourself - you don't speak for me! Before I agree or disagree with his comments, I would like to gather more information. Who were the doctors he talked with? What was that discussion? Quite honestly, I honor any woman who has been 'legitamately raped' and carries the fetus to term then raises it as her own. That has got to be the purest form of Love there is!

Oh and about the 'legitamately raped', I concluded his reasons for saying this were because some women actually lie about being raped. Sad and true.

cinkisses 9 months ago

what does it matter what doctors he spoke to, wait I would like to know too so that I wouldnt happen to slip up and go to one of them. The simple fact that he voiced that opinion is enough to keep me from even considering voting for him. There is a difference between being legitimately against abortion and plainly stupid on the female reproductive system.

Gabrielle 9 months ago

The reproductive system is part of the whole body. What happens during the fight/flight response? I don't know the details of this. Is this what the doctors were referring to when Todd Akin spoke with them? I don't know. It isn't common knowledge.

TickledPink 9 months ago

Why don't you call your doctor and ask him/her then come back her and tell us what they say? I can already tell you what they'll say - it's BS and has no basis in science.

Gabrielle 9 months ago

Well, it sounds like its more common knowledge than I thought! What does the research say?...besides 'BS' - what are the details?

tonto_goldberg 9 months ago

That theory has been debunked countless times, but it keeps coming back. Conception does not require an orgasm, or even a pleasant experience. Conception requires timing. Ask your own OBG.

cinkisses 9 months ago

And even if there is something to the "fight and flight" bodily responses, is the slim chance that it would prevent an unwanted pregancy enough? What about the mental condtions of the victim? Say I get raped ... how does my body know its a "legitimate rape" to shut itself down? What would they say about the woman who has severe emotional trauma from a rape (if it is legitimate and she wasn't asking for it of course (sarcasm just incase you cant read into it)) who concieves a child and can not handle the burden every day?

TickledPink 9 months ago

Common myth is more like it. It was also once "common knowledge" that only witches float.

I guess today is my day to do searches ....

w w w .ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248

w w w .springerlink.com/content/wp5cnp43k6byxj4d/ : This one is an e-book but you don't have to buy it to see what it says in the synopsis.

w w w .politico.com/news/stories/0812/79895.html

io9.com/5936157/the-real-science-behind-todd-akins-claim-that-victims-of-legitimate-rape-dont-get-pregnant

Gabrielle 9 months ago

So kind of you - ticked pink. I read the last site you listed. I am surprised to see how quickly people have posted such information on the internet. Thank you, Tickled Pink. While this particular article doesn't go into the physiological response, the statistics are interesting. For sure, Todd Akin is guilty of saying pregnancy from rape is rare. Over 30,000 pregancies/year as a result from rape is alot of pregnancies. It is a lot of new people. Proportionally some might considered it a small number. This discussion and article certainly raises additional questions for me along these lines.

seeno 9 months ago

Eileen, i want to assure you that you did not misspeak as far as i'm concerned. If anyone has a right to speak up with a heated response it is a rape victim. Any medical person with minimal knowledge would not have a second thought about condemning Akin on this comment. I don't care if a top physcian at Harvard or Yale told him this. Evils such as rape or abuse and commets that imply in any way that a women could have stopped the rape or prevented getting pregnant shoud incense everyone.

eileen10 9 months ago

Point taken My anger over rode any kind of logical thinking when I made the post. My daughter was raped, became pregnant and the result of that brutal act is my oldest grandson who is a wonderful young man. I personally don't believe in abortion but some women can't deal with knowing the fetus they carry is the product of rape and choose to abort. I certainly understand that but I can't see any doctor saying such a foolish thing such as a womans body does this and that due to rape. I'm a nurse .

Gabrielle 9 months ago

Thanks, eileen. I am also highly educated in the medical field. I have heard medical organizations come out against his statement. Until I hear a discussion about the physiology of the fight/flight response, I cannot discount this man for his comments. I am taking him at his word that he actually spoke with physicians about this. I would like more information.

Right now, I am still going to vote for him. Back when there were the stimulus and bail out votes, he voted the way I would've like people to vote. No.

Sequoia 9 months ago

For those who "need more information" (like, you can't look out the window and decide for yourself if the sky is red or blue? you need more information? you need to hear both sides? Sheesh.), yes, WOMEN WHO ARE RAPED GET PREGNANT.

Here is some of that information you're looking for. The stats come from an article linked to in this story: theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/08/how-often-does-rape-lead-to-pregnancy/261307/ "RESULTS: The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year. Among 34 cases of rape-related pregnancy, the majority occurred among adolescents and resulted from assault by a known, often related perpetrator. Only 11.7% of these victims received immediate medical attention after the assault, and 47.1% received no medical attention related to the rape. A total 32.4% of these victims did not discover they were pregnant until they had already entered the second trimester; 32.2% opted to keep the infant whereas 50% underwent abortion and 5.9% placed the infant for adoption; an additional 11.8% had spontaneous abortion. CONCLUSIONS: Rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency. It is a cause of many unwanted pregnancies and is closely linked with family and domestic violence. As we address the epidemic of unintended pregnancies in the United States, greater attention and effort should be aimed at preventing and identifying unwanted pregnancies that result from sexual victimization."

Hope this clears it up for you. So, this guy who claims to care so much about "the unborn" doesn't know, or care, about the reality of the conditions under which many of those "unborn children" actually come to exist. He wants to make pronouncements and restrictions on people's lives without actually knowing anything about those lives.

JCLifer 9 months ago

There sure is a lot of raping going on. Seems like we ought to be able to reduce this violent crime somehow. All the emphasis on traffic violations- maybe the law enforcement community needs to focus on reducing violent crime instead.

eileen10 9 months ago

I under stand Gabrielle. And I certainly respect everything you had to say. This is a hot topic for sure and if people weren't behind a screen I bet fists would be flying. Have a great day Gabrielle.

Gabrielle 9 months ago

Thanks eileen. I wish you well also - and your family. It sounds like our families have much in common - given this conversation and your loved one in Afghanistan. I am familiar with that one too. Best wishes for all!

seeno 9 months ago

Todd Akin's Republican moral values coming to the surface. Since he relates to the Bible belt so well he should be familiar with the following Bible verse. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 American King James Version At the same time he votes against the farm bill not because of the big fat farm subsidy checks being handed out to his colleagues, but because he thinks too much money is bing spent to feed the hungry. Pharisee is the term that comes to my mind ( and not in a good way)

Gabrielle 9 months ago

Like the Biblical reference - so much I decided to read it in my version. The reference to Pharisees is not clear to me. Also, did Akin actually say he things too much money is being spent to feed the hungry? At this point as I stated earlier, he's got my vote. This, of course, warrants some additional attention. Was this recently?

seeno 9 months ago

Read the Gospels and it should clear up what a good Pharisee is and what a bad Pharisee is. You can google Todd Aiken or read the recent News Tribune article about Candidates reaching out to Rural Voters where he states he is against the farm bill because he feels too much is being spent on food stamps.

Littleinvestor 9 months ago

Akin's claim has been around for thousands of years. It has been traced to a Jewish text exhorting men to make sure their wives enjoy the sexual experience to insure they will get pregnant. It is not even a medieval comment. It is older than that. If there was some way to "shut down" the system, don't you think modern science would have figured out what magic hormone does that and utilize it for birth control rather than high does of other hormones that promote some cancers, strokes, gallbladder trouble and other severe health problems?

eileen10 9 months ago

Thank you Gabrielle and seeno for what you each had to say. What he had to say hit me hard due to the fact that my daughter was also raped and when she was born a few years after what happened to me I swore that would never happen to her...but God help me it did. The one good thing that happened was my oldest grandson who was the product of the rape but I went back in time and all the feelings took hold of me. I can't imagine how many women this has affected as far as what he said. Again..Thank you.

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