Tagged: Todd Akin

Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, running for the U.S. Senate, continues to draw fire over his remarks last weekend suggesting that women who are "legitimately raped" have a secret biological method to avoid conceiving a child after a rape. Akin said: "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

He's since apologized, and run several ads saying he knows women can become pregnant through rape. But he later said his mistake was actually using a single word - legitimate - to describe rape.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. By now, people across the nation have heard remarks by Missouri Republican Todd Akin. He says he misspoke about pregnancy and rape, but his words shifted the polls in his race for a vital U.S. Senate seat. Now Democrats want to be sure the remarks have a national effect. Here's NPR's Ari Shapiro.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In Tampa, where Republicans are gathering for their convention, Todd Akin has been meeting with supporters, including the Family Research Council, which, like Akin, opposes abortion rights. Connie Mackey heads the council's political action committees.

Mr. Akin, as I'm sure you know very well, as he defended his action, he said he misspoke, but then he said that he had said one word in one sentence on one day that was wrong. Is that all he got wrong?