Obama tells blundering 'legitimate rape' Republican lawmaker 'rape is rape'

Sydney, Aug 21 (ANI): U.S. President Barack Obama has slammed a Republican lawmaker's definition of a 'legitimate rape', and insisted that distinguishing among types of rape doesn't make sense.

Obama said that Missouri Republican Todd Akin's remarks underscore why politicians, most of whom are men, should not make health decisions on behalf of women.

"Rape is rape. The idea of distinguishing among types of rape doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me," News.com.au quoted Obama, as saying.

Akin recently sparked outrage by claiming that victims of 'legitimate rape' rarely get pregnant.

He said during an interview with KTVI-TV that 'from what I understand from doctors' women's bodies naturally reject pregnancies that result from rape.

"First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," he said.

After facing widespread backlash on the Internet, Akin released a statement claiming that he had 'misspoke'.

"In reviewing my off-the-cuff remarks, it's clear that I misspoke in this interview and it does not reflect the deep empathy I hold for the thousands of women who are raped and abused every year," he said. (ANI)

null