The Associated Press reports that Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock made a bit of a splash in a debate Tuesday when, in the final minutes of a debate with Democratic challenger Rep. Joe Donnelly, he said that he views pregnancies from rape as “a gift from God.”

VideoVideo related to mourdock: ‘pregnancy from rape is god’s will’ 2012-10-24T02:08:04-04:00

Mourdock’s exact words on the matter were:

“I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And, I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen”

Immediately after Mourdock’s comments the Romney campaign went to work distancing themselves from him should he accidentally cause harm to the current presidential campaign in these final weeks coming up to election time. Other officials refused to comment, passing off reporters to their spokespeople or simply dodging questions as they were asked.

Regardless of the intentions of either the comment in the debate or the follow-up by other officials afterwards Mourdock’s statement has come under fire from a number of individuals and groups across the country, some even accusing him of insinuating that God intended the rape to occur. This he stated:

“Are you trying to suggest somehow that God preordained rape, no I don’t think that. Anyone who would suggest that is just sick and twisted. No, that’s not even close to what I said.”

Nevertheless this could prove problematic for not only Murdock but other Republicans handling the difficult issue of abortion rights in recent years.