Rep. Todd Akin, a Republican from Missouri who is running for Senate, said in an interview released Sunday that women's bodies have a defense mechanism that keeps them from getting pregnant if they are the victims of "legitimate rape." "First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare," Akin told KTVI-TV. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down." After the comments went viral, Akin said on Twitter that he "misspoke," and released a statement clarifying that the comment "does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year."
