Fury over Senate candidate’s abortion remarks on ‘legitimate’ rape

Missouri Republican Todd Akin, a six-term congressman running against incumbent Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, was asked in an interview shown on television in St Louis if there were any circumstances in which he would support a woman’s decision to have an abortion.

Mr Akin, who has said he is Missouri’s most conservative congressman, indicated there may be an exception to his stance against abortion. But, when asked if he supported abortions for women who have been raped, he said: “It seems to me first of all from what I understand from doctors that’s really rare.

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” he said of a rape victims.

Mr Akin said in an emailed statement yesterday that he “misspoke” during the interview. “It does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year.”

Meanwhile, a US congressman has had to apologise to his Christian constituents after being caught swimming naked in the holy Sea of Galilee while on a fact-finding mission to Israel.

Republican Kevin Yoder, 36, from Kansas, has not been charged in the August 18, 2011, incident when he and about 20 other politicians and staff jumped into the water. He was the only one among them who wore no clothes.

“I feel incredibly remorseful that I have caused embarrassment to my constituents and I have caused folks who believe in me to be disappointed,” he said.