A short while after Rep. Todd Akin's comments today caused a giant uproar, his opponent for the Senate seat in Missouri, Sen. Claire McCaskill, said in a statement that the comments were "beyond comprehensible."

"It is beyond comprehension that someone can be so ignorant about the emotional and physical trauma brought on by rape. The ideas that Todd Akin has expressed about the serious crime of rape and the impact on its victims are offensive."

McCaskill added on her Twitter feed that she was "stunned" by the comments.

As a woman & former prosecutor who handled 100s of rape cases,I'm stunned by Rep Akin's comments about victims this AM bit.ly/NahiHz — Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) August 19, 2012

McCaskill's campaign website is also out with a donation request for Akin's comments:

In an interview that was posted Sunday, Akin said that victims of "legitimate rape" are unlikely to get pregnant because their bodies have "ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that roughly 32,000 pregnancies per year result from rape.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

The comments sparked a fury on Twitter and other social media networks. And it threatens Akin's bid for the Senate seat, which was handily in his favor before today. A recent SurveyUSA poll put Akin up 11 points on McCaskill, a one-term U.S. Senator.

Here's video of Akin's original comments: