WASHINGTON — Democrats are attacking Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock for saying that pregnancy caused by rape is something “God intended” and not a situation that justifies an abortion.
The comment Tuesday night is roiling a tight race less than two weeks before the election and threatens to spill over into the presidential contest. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has endorsed Mourdock and appeared in campaign ads for him. Romney quickly distanced himself from the comments.
“Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock’s comments, and they do not reflect his views,” Romney spokesman Andrea Saul said in an e-mail. Asked whether Romney will withdraw his endorsement of Mourdock or insist that an ad that features a joint appearance of the two candidates be taken off the air, Saul said Romney’s campaign “still supports him.”
Mourdock apologized Wednesday for his “less-thanfully-articulate use of words,” while saying he stands by his position. At a news conference Wednesday at the Indiana Republican Party headquarters in Indianapolis, he said repeatedly that he views life as “precious” and that he abhors violence including rape. He said Democrats have begun to “twist” his words.
“For those who want to kind of twist the comments — I believe that’s what’s wrong with Washington these days,” Mourdock said. “It’s win at any cost. Let’s make up issues when we can’t find any real ones.”
He said his campaign is “moving on” and that he believes Indiana voters are, too.
A Tea Party favorite, Mourdock defeated six-term Republican incumbent Richard Lugar by 20 percentage points in a May primary with an anti-tax, anti-Washington message.
Mourdock’s remark Tuesday night came in response to a voter-submitted question toward the end of a debate with his opponents, Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly and Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning.
“I’ve struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God,” said Mourdock, the state’s treasurer. “And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
Mourdock choked up as he spoke about God at the debate and again at his news conference Wednesday morning as he said “life is incredibly precious.” He said he views saving a woman’s life as the only acceptable reason for abortion.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, said rape victims should have access to abortions. Mourdock said Wednesday morning that he has a policy difference with some fellow Republicans, including Romney, on abortion.
Amid the fallout from the debate, Mourdock called New Hampshire’s U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte to cancel her planned trip to Indiana to campaign with him.
“I didn’t want her to be dragged into a situation today,” he told reporters.
Ayotte spokesman Jeff Grappone said in an e-mail Wednesday that the senator “disagrees with Treasurer Mourdock’s comments, which do not represent her views.”
Democrats pounced on Mourdock’s comment after the debate ended, highlighting his ties to Romney.
Jen Psaki, a campaign spokesman for President Barack Obama, told reporters traveling Wednesday to a campaign rally in Iowa that the president thought Mourdock’s comments were “outrageous and demeaning to women.”
“This is a reminder that a Republican Congress working with a Republican President Mitt Romney would feel that women should not be able to make choices about their own health care,” Psaki said.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Obama campaign officials and the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge were among those who reminded voters on Twitter of Romney’s backing of Mourdock.
American Bridge cut a video combining Romney’s endorsement of Mourdock and the Senate candidate’s statements of his own views. The Democratic National Committee made a similar video.
After the debate, Mourdock clarified that his point was “God creates life.”
“God does not want rape, and by no means was I suggesting that he does,” Mourdock said in a statement, adding, “for anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick.”
He echoed those statements at his news conference Wednesday.
Donnelly issued a statement calling his opponent’s comments “shocking” and saying “it is stunning that he would be so disrespectful to survivors of rape.”
Mourdock made his remark two months after Missouri Senate Republican candidate Todd Akin said “legitimate rape” rarely leads to pregnancy. Akin, a U.S. House member seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, later apologized while rejecting calls from fellow Republicans to withdraw from the Missouri race.
Information for this article was contributed by Greg Giroux, Julianna Goldman, Michael Shepard, Heidi Przybyla, Lisa Lerer and John McCormick of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/25/2012