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A Republicans on Rape graphic widely circulated online since 2014 collects various comments about that crime supposedly made by GOP politicians in recent years: The remarks collected in that graphic were indeed all uttered by the persons to whom they have been attributed; below we offer four of the statements on video (also on YouTube), as well as the context in which they were made, and any clarifying remarks subsequently offered by their speakers. Rape is kinda like the weather. If it's inevitable, relax and enjoy it. On 24 March 1990, Texas oilman Clayton Williams, the Republican nominee in the Lone Star State's upcoming gubernatorial election, was preparing for a cattle roundup at his West Texas ranch while undesirable weather conditions threatened to spoil the event. As he sat around a campfire with ranch hands, campaign workers, and reporters, Williams likened that day's cold, foggy weather to rape, saying, If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it. Later that day Williams asserted that his comment had been a joke, and a few days later his campaign offered an apologetic statement about it: If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that thing down. On 19 August 2012, U.S. Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, a Republican who was challenging incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill for her seat in the U.S. Senate, was interviewed by St. Louis television station KTVI. During that interview, Akin was asked whether he believed abortion was justified in cases of rape, and he responded by asserting that legitimate rapes rarely resulted in pregnancy: It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down. After his words touched off widespread outrage, Akin then issued a statement maintaining that his remarks were off-the-cuff and that he misspoke in this interview: Two years later, while appearing in another television interview with MSNBC to promote his new book Firing Back, Akin asserted that legitimate rape was a law enforcement term and that his original remark had been intentionally misunderstood: Time magazine noted that they were unable to find a law enforcement official familiar with the term legitimate rape: Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation. On 20 January 2012, Rick Santorum, a former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who was then campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight program and was asked by that show's host about his stance on abortion and whether he believed abortion was wrong even in cases of incest and rape. Santorum responded by saying that although a pregnancy resulting from a rape might be horrible, it was nonetheless a gift of human life and that we have to make the best out of a bad situation: Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen. On 23 October 2012, Richard Mourdock, the Republican candidate for one of Indiana's U.S. Senate seats, was engaged in a debate with his Democratic and Libertarian rivals when he expressed his view that life begins at conception and that he would only allow abortions in circumstances in which the mother's life was in danger: After the debate, Mourdock explained that when he said it is something that God intended to happen, he was referring to the creation of life and not the act of rape itself: In the emergency room they have what's called rape kits, where a woman can get cleaned out. On 23 June 2013, Jodie Laubenberg, a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, was debating a measure she had introduced to the House that included a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. When Rep. Senfronia Thompson proposed an exemption for victims of rape and incest, Laubenberg argued against that exemption, saying that when a victim seeks medical care after a rape, they have what's called rape kits, that the woman can get cleaned out, basically like [a procedure known as D and C that is often performed after a miscarriage]. She also noted that emergency contraception is available. A few days later, after she was mocked over her remark, Laubenberg said she was confused by Democrats' questions and misspoke and meant to say that rape victims could obtain emergency contraception and other treatment at medical facilities: If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn't a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist's pursuit of sexual freedom doesn't (in most cases) result in anyone's death. In February 2014, the Maine Democratic Party called for the resignation of Lawrence Lockman, a Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives, when a liberal activist made a blog post detailing negative public statements about gays, abortion and rape that Lockman had made years earlier: Lockman responded to the controversy by issuing a statement affirming that he regretted his previous remarks:
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