Richard Mourdock, Indiana GOP Senate candidate, in a Tuesday night debate with opponent Joe Donnelly said "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen," as reported by CBS News.
When asked if he was implying that rape was God-intended, he responded, "No, that's not even close to what I said,''as reported by the Boston Globe.
In a news conference after the debate Mourdock told reporters: "What I said was, in answering the question form my position of faith, I said I believe that God creates life. I believe that as wholly and as fully as I can believe it. That God creates life... Are you trying to suggest that somehow I think that God pre-ordained rape? No, I don't think that. That's sick. Twisted. That's not even close to what I said. What I said is that God creates life," as reported by CBS News.
Mourdock's words are largely reminiscent of a recent comment made on the same topic by Missouri GOP candidate Tod Atkins, who talked about "legitimate rape," saying that pregnancies are less likely to occur in the case of "legitimate rape."
Muordock's opponent Donnelly is also pro-life. Never the less, it not the stance on abortion, but the ill-framed manner in which Mourdock addressed the issue that is most frightening and detrimental to his campaign.
It remains to be seen whether the comments will stir trouble for the Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who appeared in a TV commercial endorsing Mourdock.
David Axelrod, President Obama's strategist took to Twitter to say, "Mitt's man Mourdock apes Akin, reflecting a GOP that is way out of mainstream, @davidaxelrod.
But the Romney campaign immediately started distancing himself from Mourdock in a statement released by Romney's campaign spokesman Andrea Saul, which read:
"Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views."
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