Facing pressure to drop out of the Missouri senatorial race after his Sunday comments about rape angered Americans on both sides of the party line, embattled U.S. Rep. Todd Akin released a YouTube video asking for forgiveness.
“Rape is an evil act,” he told his viewers Tuesday morning in a video titled “Forgiveness.” “I used the wrong words in the wrong way, and for that I apologize.”
“As the father of two daughters, I want tough justice for predators, have a compassionate heart for the victims of assault, and I pray for them.”
In an interview Sunday, Akin said that he believed that victims of “legitimate rape” could effectively will themselves to not get pregnant.
“It seems to be, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, it’s really rare,” Akin said on The Jaco Report. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that thing down”
Akin’s perception had changed by Tuesday.
“The fact is, rape can lead to pregnancy,” he said. “The truth is, rape has many victims. The mistake I made was in the words I said, not in the heart I hold. I ask for your forgiveness.”
Akin has played the role of Public Enemy No. 1 this week on the Internet, getting lambasted on Twitter and mocked on Tumblr.
The Senate candidate said Monday that he will not suspend his campaign in response to the backlash.
“I’m not a quitter,” he said on Mike Huckabee’s radio show Monday afternoon. “My belief is we’re going to move this thing forward. To quote my friend John Paul Jones, ‘I’ve not yet begun to fight.’”
Neither has the opposition.
Photo via YouTube
