On Tuesday, Mourdock said he couldn’t support a rape exception for abortion bans. GOP splits over Mourdock comment

The NRSC is standing by its candidate in Indiana, Richard Mourdock, after the Senate hopeful said that pregnancies resulting from rape are “something God intended to happen,” while Mitt Romney and other Republicans are distancing themselves from the Hoosier.

“Richard and I, along with millions of Americans — including even Joe Donnelly — believe that life is a gift from God,” Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement Wednesday. “To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous. In fact, rather than condemning him for his position, as some in his party have when it’s come to Republicans, I commend Congressman Donnelly for his support of life.”


The NRSC’s decision to stand by Mourdock contrasts with its initial decision to drop support for Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin after he said pregnancies couldn’t result from “legitimate rape.” The NRSC later indicated it was reconsidering that position. Most other Republicans were united in their condemnation of Akin.

In a debate Tuesday night with Rep. Donnelly, the Democratic candidate in the race, Mourdock said while he supported an exception in abortion bans for the life of the mother, he couldn’t support a rape exception.

“I just struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize: Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,” said Mourdock, Indiana’s state treasurer.

GOP Rep. Mike Pence, who is leading Indiana’s gubernatorial race, called on Mourdock to apologize.

“I strongly disagree with the statement made by Richard Mourdock during last night’s Senate debate,” Pence said in a statement, according to the Evansville Courier & Press. “I urge him to apologize.”

Appearing on MSNBC Wednesday, Romney senior adviser Bay Buchannan said the former Massachusetts governor “disagrees entirely with what the Senate candidate said.”

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who is trailing among women in his race against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, also distanced himself.

“Scott Brown is pro-choice and does not agree with the views expressed by Richard Mourdock,” Alleigh Marre said in a statement. “They do not reflect his thinking at all.”

Meanwhile, Democrats charged Mourdock with suggesting rape was part of God’s plan, and the chair of Indiana’s Democratic Party said Mourdock “disqualified” himself.

“Richard Mourdock is trying to walk away from his reprehensible comments last night and claim that we misrepresented his assertion that pregnancies resulting from rape are part of God’s will,” Dan Parker said in a statement. “His Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who won’t say if he still endorses Mourdock, took his words that way. I’m a pro-life Catholic, and I took his words that way. What he said was extreme and terribly disrespectful to rape victims, and he knows it. Before last night, Richard Mourdock was just a Tea Party Zealot, now he is an extreme Tea Party Zealot. He just disqualified himself to be Indiana’s next U.S. Senator.”

And Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Patty Murray said Romney needs to do more to disavow Mourdock.

“While Mitt Romney is rightly distancing himself from Richard Mourdock today, his ad endorsing Mourdock’s extreme candidacy continues to air in Indiana,” said Murray, a Senator from Washington state. “If Mitt Romney is serious about repudiating these heinous views on rape, he will take down this ad immediately. National Republicans cannot paper over Richard Mourdock’s heinous views on rape. Enough is enough. The Republican Party needs to stop the coddling and take a stand against the horribly offensive and dangerous views of the Tea Party and their extreme candidates.”

Planned Parenthood’s political wing has called on Romney to revoke his endorsement of Mourdock.

Scott Wong contributed reporting.