Akin Clarifies 'Legitimate Rape' Comments: Women Make 'False Claims' About Being Raped

By Igor Volsky, ThinkProgress

22 August 12

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ep. Todd Akin (R-MO) announced that he will continue with his race for the U.S. Senate, during an appearance on the Mike Huckabee radio show Tuesday afternoon, and clarified his claims that women who face "legitimate rape" cannot become pregnant.

Arguing that he misplaced the word "legitimate," Akin explained - during a follow up interview with Dana Loesch - that he meant to argue that women sometimes lie about being raped:

AKIN: You know, Dr. Willke has just released a statement and part of his letter, I think he just stated it very clearly. He said, of course Akin never used the word legitimate to refer to the rapist, but to false claims like those made in Roe v. Wade and I think that simplifies it�.. There isn't any legitimate rapist�. [I was] making the point that there were people who use false claims, like those that basically created Roe v. Wade.

Since he first made the comments over the weekend, Akin claimed that he meant to say "forcible," rather than "legitimate" rape.

And while many Republicans are distancing themselves from the candidate, staunch anti-choice conservatives are backing-up Akin's explanation. Dr. John Willke, who describes himself as the "founding father" of the movement, issued a statement defending Akin and Huckabee approvingly read it during his interview on Tuesday.

Willke "is a leading proponent of the view that women are unlikely to become pregnant by 'forcible rape,' a theory he laid out in a 1999 article on the subject."