Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association on Monday insisted that Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) was right to claim women could not become pregnant from “legitimate rape.”

“What Todd Akin is talking about is when you’ve got a real, genuine rape. A case of forcible rape, a case of assault, where a woman has been violated against her will through the use of physical force where it is physically traumatic for her,” Fischer said on his radio program.

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“Under those circumstances, the woman’s body — because of the trauma that has been inflicted on her — it may interfere with the normal function processes of her body that lead to conception and pregnancy.”

Fischer said the trauma from rape interfered with normal physiological processes that occur during conception, which “may make it impossible for her, or difficult in that particular circumstance, to conceive a child.”

In a television interview over the weekend, Akin claimed women could not become pregnant after being raped because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Akin has been widely denounced for the outrageous claim by Democrats, fellow Republicans, rape victims and others. Akin, who is running for Senate in Missouri, has apologized for the use of the phrase “legitimate rape” and acknowledged that a woman can become pregnant as the result of a sexual assault.

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) told Raw Story that Akin’s point of view was “consistent” with that of other House Republicans, including vice presidential candidate Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI).

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