Congress, Legitimate Rape | featured news

Democrats scored decisive Senate wins in Missouri and Indiana after candidates supported by the tea party and evangelical Christians made controversial remarks on rape, pregnancy and abortion that appeared to cost them the support of more-moderate voters in their party.

Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is taking aim at Republican challenger Todd Akin with a new series of TV ads featuring rape survivors upset about Akin's position on emergency contraception....

...almost two months after Republican Todd Akin sparked a national controversy with his comments about "legitimate rape" — the GOP Senate nominee remains within striking distance of McCaskill. Two polls released last week showed McCaskill up by 6 percentage points, within the margin of error of about plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Todd Akin’s list of allies has grown yet again. Akin this morning won the endorsement of the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF), the PAC founded by influential conservative Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. DeMint himself endorsed Akin Wednesday in a joint announcement with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Rep. Todd Akin isn't here for the Republican National Convention, but he's still a topic for discussion. In an interview on CNN's State of the Union, Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus said today that Akin "absolutely" could cost the GOP control of the U.S. Senate.

Under fire from his own party for controversial comments on rape, U.S. Republican Representative Todd Akin on Thursday won the support of social conservatives in his effort to stay in Missouri's US Senate race.

Representative Todd Akin’s remarks on rape have focused attention on the party’s agenda on restricting abortion rights, a politically volatile topic for Mitt Romney and other candidates.

Showing no sign of backing down from his U.S. Senate candidacy, Todd Akin released a television ad in which he apologizes for his remarks about "legitimate rape" seldom causing pregnancy and asks for forgiveness.

Senior Republicans scrambled to distance themselves on Monday from Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin's comments about rape, which put an unwelcome focus on divisive social issues a week before the party holds its election-year convention.

... Last year, Akin, vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and most of the House GOP cosponsored a bill that would have narrowed the already-narrow exceptions to the laws banning federal funding for abortion—from all cases of rape to cases of "forcible rape."