Comments from U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) started to go viral Friday, after he defended statements made by now-former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) during the fall election campaign. Akin came under fire for his remarks about on “legitimate rape.”
Gingrey answered questions from constituents at a Cobb Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Smyrna, Ga., Thursday, mentioning several points that have been in the news, including gun control, which has been a hot topic nationally since last month’s elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The Marietta Daily Journal reports Gingrey also defended the comments by Akin, who said last year during his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate that during a “legitimate rape,” a woman’s body can shut down and pregnancy would not occur. Gingrey, a gynecologist by trade, explained his impression of Akin’s comments, adding that he was “partly right.”
“… In Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared to death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that.
“But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that,” Gingrey said. “I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true.”
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