Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (PA) on Saturday urged Republican Party officials to resume their support of Republican Rep. Todd Akin, who is running for Senate in Missouri.

“The entire Republican Party should stand up and say, ‘You know what? He’s our candidate, it’s too important for the future of our country not to have a majority of the Senate in this upcoming election,” he told NBC News. “I’m hoping everybody will join in and support the cause.”

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Santorum explained that Republicans needed to gain a majority in the Senate if they hoped to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law.

“I don’t know what the Republican establishment — what their objective is, but if they want to repeal Obamacare, we better hold the Senate. And to hold the Senate, we better win Missouri,” Santorum said.

Akin created an uproar in August by claiming it was unlikely that the victim of a “legitimate rape” would become pregnant because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Many prominent Republicans called on Akin to abandon his bid for Senate in Missouri, but he refused to drop out of the race against incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill. The Republican Party and some Republican political action committees have withdrawn financial support for Akin.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has refused to support Akin, but Republican Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have come to his aid.