Gingrey: Akin partly right on rape

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., says former Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., was partially correct when he said women's bodies prevent conception after rape.

Gingrey -- an obstetrician and gynecologist -- told an audience in Georgia Thursday women who are under stress are less likely to ovulate because of a rush of adrenaline.

However, he said that would not apply to women who have already ovulated.

"But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you're not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman's body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak," he said.

Akin's comment -- that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" would not become pregnant -- became a major focus of his U.S. Senate campaign against incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2012.

Gingrey told The Hill he does not agree with Akin's remarks or those of another unsuccessful Republican Senate candidate, Richard Mourdock of Indiana, that even when a child is conceived by rape it is a "gift from God."

Gingrey addressed Akin's remarks at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Smyrna, Ga., the Marietta (Fa.) Daily Journal reported. He said he would be willing to consider limits on the size of gun magazines and said that as a target shooter he knows hobbyists do not need rapid fire or large capacity magazines.