DesJarlais rejects Akin's assertions about 'legitimate rape'

photo U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn.
Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog

NASHVILLE - U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., a physician, is rejecting controversial assertions made by a House colleague that "legitimate rape" doesn't result in pregnancy.

"As a physician there is no medical basis that could or should have led anyone to make such insensitive statements," said the Jasper lawmaker, who considers himself pro-life, in a brief statement to the Times Free Press today.

Last week, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., who is running against U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, ignited a national firestorm over abortion when he told a local television station that doctors have told him that pregnancy arising from rape "is really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Akin has since apologized even as a number of fellow Republican senators and other Republicans continue pressuring to drop out of the Senate race.

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