Ron Paul: No comment on Akin remarks

The turmoil began when Akin, trying to explain his position on abortion, said that a woman’s body “has ways of trying to shut the whole thing down” and avoid pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape.”

The comment prompted widespread backlash from the medical community and both sides of the political spectrum.

{mosads}Rep. Michael Burgess (Texas), a Republican OB-GYN like Paul, said that there is “no way to justify” what Akin said.

“What came across is something that’s factually inaccurate and appeared insensitive and trivializing a criminal act,” Burgess told The Wall Street Journal. 

The House’s two other OB-GYNs, Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), did not respond to requests for comment.

Paul, who has delivered more than 4,000 babies according to his House biography, opposes abortion rights. But in a February interview, he left the door open for women to abort in the case of what he called “honest rape.”

On CNN, host Piers Morgan presented Paul with a hypothetical: if his daughter was raped, would he tell her to carry the resulting child to term? 

“No,” Paul said. “If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room. I would give them a shot of estrogen.”

He described the situation as “in limbo” because a day or less after intercourse, “there is no legal or medical problem.”

But, he added, “If you talk about somebody coming in, and they say ‘I was raped and I’m seven months pregnant and I don’t want to have anything to do with it,’ it’s a little bit different story.”

Paul’s office did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked what he meant by “honest rape.” 

Akin has apologized
to voters for his remark, saying he misspoke. He will remain in his
race against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) over cries from his party to
withdraw, he said Tuesday.