Multiple Republicans got themselves in hot water with the word in 2012. GOP pollster: Stop talking about rape

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — It’s way past time: House Republicans need to stop talking about rape.

That’s the message GOP lawmakers got here Wednesday evening from Kellyanne Conway, a top GOP pollster.


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Conway dispensed the stern advice as part of a polling presentation she made alongside fellow GOP pollsters David Winston — an adviser to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — and Dave Sackett. The comment was described by several sources in the room.

Conway said rape is a “four-letter word,” and Republicans simply need to stop talking about it in their races for office.

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Several GOP candidates got themselves in hot water during the 2012 campaign by talking about rape. Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said a woman could terminate a pregnancy resulting from a “legitimate rape.” Richard Mourdock, who lost his race for a Senate seat in Indiana, said babies resulting from rape were a “gift from God.”

Last week, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) — an OB-GYN since 1975 and co-chairman of the House GOP Doctors Caucus — commented that Akin was “partly right” in saying that female rape victims have a way of shutting down the body during “legitimate rape” that will prevent pregnancy.

Last Friday, Gingrey’s office provided a statement in which he appeared to distance himself from the remarks, which he said were misconstrued.

“At a breakfast yesterday morning, I was asked why Democrats made abortion a central theme of the presidential campaign. I do not defend, nor do I stand by, the remarks made by Rep. Akin and Mr. [Richard] Mourdock. In my attempt to provide context as to what I presumed they meant, my position was misconstrued,” he said in the statement.