In 2008, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) claimed that it is “common practice” for women “who are not actually pregnant” to get abortions.
Akin, now a senatorial candidate, demonstrated his limited understanding of female biology this summer when he said a woman cannot get pregnant from “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down.”
But his newly unearthed comments, courtesy of BuzzFeed, show that he may not understand what the procedure of abortion is at all, since he claims it can be administered to a woman who is not pregnant:
You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other lawbreaking. The not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things. The misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die. All of these things are common practice, and all that information is available for America.
Watch it:
Akin’s attempts to win over female voters aren’t going well. Shortly after he launched “Women for Akin,” he said his opponent was not being “ladylike” enough during their debate because she attacked his congressional record.
But such remarks may not matter: Recent polls show Akin and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) neck-and-neck.