A campaign statement that neither Mitt Romney nor Representative Paul D. Ryan opposes abortion in rape cases contradicts Mr. Ryan’s earlier position on the issue.

The statement was issued late Sunday in response to a widely condemned comment earlier in the day by Representative Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee from Missouri, that in cases of what he called “legitimate rape,’’ women’s bodies reject a pregnancy. Mr. Akin was explaining why he opposes abortion in the case of rape.

“Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan disagree with Mr. Akin’s statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape,’’ a Romney campaign spokeswoman, Amanda Henneberg, wrote.

Although Mr. Romney has stated this position before, Mr. Ryan, a seven-term congressman from Wisconsin, has opposed abortion in the case of rape. During his first run for the seat in 1998, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that he opposed abortions in all cases except to save the life of the mother.



More recently, Mr. Ryan was a co-sponsor of a House bill last year defining human life as beginning with fertilization and granting “personhood’’ rights to embryos, a movement that supporters say will outlaw abortions in all cases, and may also restrict some forms of birth control.

Furor over Mr. Akin’s remarks, which he later retracted, may bring new attention to the most uncompromising wing of the antiabortion movement, complicating the Republican ticket’s efforts to appeal to women voters.

President Obama, who has a commanding lead in polls with women, has already pressed the issue. The day after Mr. Ryan was announced as the vice-presidential pick, the Obama campaign’s Twitter account published a message:

Make sure the women in your life know: Paul Ryan supports banning all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) 12 Aug 12

Mr. Romney has had his own complicated history with the abortion issue. He was what he now calls “effectively pro-choice’’ early in his political career, but became an abortion opponent when he was confronted with a bill on stem cell research as governor of Massachusetts.

Since then, he has opposed abortion, but — unlike his running mate — has said the procedure should be legal in the cases of rape or incest.

That hasn’t stopped Democrats from using the issue against him, especially in the wake of Mr. Romney’s repeated promise to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood because the group performs abortions.

In an interview last March, Mr. Romney elaborated on his desire to end funding of programs that he deems unnecessary. “Of course you get rid of ‘Obamacare,’ that’s the easy one, but there are others,” he said. “Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that.”

That line has made it into several Democratic videos and ads.

A campaign commercial from Mr. Obama’s campaign went even further, accusing Mr. Romney of supporting “overturning Roe versus Wade” and alleging that “Romney backed a bill that outlaws all abortion, even in case of rape and incest.”

Aides to Mr. Romney have been particularly angry about that last charge, since Mr. Romney has said explicitly that he supports rape and incest exceptions. Independent fact checkers have said that charge is false.