A Republican congressman from St. Louis says he is staying in the race for the U.S. Senate after igniting a firestorm of criticism with a controversial comment about "legitimate rape" during an interview on abortion despite fellow Republicans asking him to step aside.
The clock is ticking. Rep. Todd Akin, who represents St. Louis, Mo., must decide to take his name off the ballot by 5 p.m. on Tuesday in order for another candidate to try for the seat against Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Controversy broke out on Sunday when Akin, an abortion opponent, was asked about his opinion on abortion in the case of rape.
"It seems to me -- first of all, from what I understand from doctors -- that's really rare," Akin said, of pregnancies resulting from rape. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down."
The interviewer did not follow up on what constitutes "legitimate rape," or what medical evidence he has supporting his statement -- but his opponent in the race wasted no time jumping on the comment.
In fact, many high-ranking politicians jumped in to denounce Akin's remarks after anger spread across social media platforms like wildfire -- including President Barack Obama.
"The views expressed are offensive," Obama said. "Rape is rape, and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people, and certainly doesn't make sense to me."
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney also condemned the remarks on Monday, calling it offensive and saying Akin needs to do the "right thing." The stern words came hours after his campaign responded to the growing controversy on Sunday by quickly announcing a Romney-Ryan administration would not prohibit rape victims accessing an abortion.
Yet, Akin is not the only person to have said something along those lines. Other politicians have too, and it all seems to trace back to an article from 1999 that was written by National Right to Life President John Wilke, who said the physical and emotional trauma of rape short-circuits ovulation by 50 percent. He is a medical doctor, but he provided no medical evidence and his analysis is widely discredited.
Research indicates that over 30,000 pregnancies each year are the result of rape, and other research suggests that pregnancy occurs in 6.5 percent of all rape cases.
Akin may have been making an attempt to link in legislation he has authored with Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney's running mate, that would ban federal financing of abortion except in cases of what he calls "forcible" rape."
If Akin does not step down before the 24-hour deadline in spite of pressure from Republican leadership, a court order will be needed to change the candidate on the ballot.
FOX 9 News will have much more on the broader political implications of these statements tonight on FOX 9 News @ 9.
