Legitimate Rape Can't Get You Pregnant, Says Republican Senate Nominee

Politicians are like doctors, right? I mean, they have to be smart to get elected into office, you'd think. And once a smart person is, say, one of the major candidates running for Senate in Missouri, he or she probably has a pretty good idea of how the world works. In fact, in some cases, maybe he or she is even privy to secret information that no one else in the whole world knows!

That's what we've got here with Republican Senate nominee Todd Akin, who dropped some shocking revelations about rape on the 19th. In an attempt to further his position on abortion on KTVI TV, he dropped the big bombs with scientific facts that were shocking to everyone:

"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 the whole thing down."

Now, if only he'd given a definition to his coined phrase "legitimate rape," then we'd have a better idea of what he's actually talking about. Apparently only fake rape gets you really pregnant, as far as the rape category goes. The American Journal of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a study in 1996 stating rape-related pregnancy occurs with significant frequency, up to 32,101 pregnancies a year. So, those were illegitimate rapes then?

When asked for clarification, he referred to his "off the cuff remarks" only by saying that he "misspoke." So I guess we just misunderstood what he was trying to convey from these doctors he apparently speaks to about rape. Or maybe legitimate rape was what he said wrong? I couldn't tell you. It sounds like he was pretty sure to me, because he went on about it for more than that quote above.

Akin is currently ahead of his opponent Senator Claire McCaskill in the polls.