GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — Mitt Romney condemned the comments about rape and abortion by Representative Todd Akin, the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, calling them “insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong.”

Mr. Akin said over the weekend that it was rare for women who were the victims of what he called a “legitimate rape” to become pregnant.

The Romney campaign issued a statement Sunday night saying that Mr. Romney disagreed with the comments, but in a telephone interview with National Review Online on Monday, Mr. Romney went further, saying Mr. Akin should not have made the comments.

“Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive,” Mr. Romney told the online magazine.

Mr. Akin believes that abortion should be illegal, even in rape cases. He said in an interview Sunday that women’s bodies had ways to block unwanted pregnancies from happening.

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut the whole thing down,” Mr. Akin told KTVI-TV.

“I have an entirely different view,” Mr. Romney told National Review. “What he said is entirely without merit and he should correct it.”