NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Republican US Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said last night that when a woman is impregnated due to rape, “it’s something God intended.”
Mourdock was asked during the final minutes of a debate whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest.
“I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that’s something God intended to happen,” he replied.
Mourdock and Democrat Joe Donnelly have been in a tight race since Tea Party favorite Mourdock unseated veteran Sen. Richard Lugar in May’s GOP primary.
After the debate, Mourdock tried to explain his stance by saying he did not believe God intended the rape, but that God is the only one who can create life.
“Are you trying to suggest somehow that God preordained rape? No, I don’t think that,” Mourdock said. “Anyone who would suggest that is just sick and twisted. No, that’s not even close to what I said.”
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney distanced himself from Mourdock. “Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock’s comments, and they do not reflect his views,” a spokeswoman said.
But Democrats jumped on Mourdock’s statement and used it as an opportunity to paint him as an extreme candidate and Tea Party “zealot.”