(Image source: U.S. House )

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

For opponents of abortion rights, there are those who believe in exceptions in cases of rape. And then there are those like this:

REP. TODD AKIN (R-Mo), VIA KTVI : “...from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare... If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. ... [T]he punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

In explaining his no-exceptions stance — Missouri Rep. Todd Akin was essentially saying pregnancies from rape rarely happen — because the female body would somehow reject the sperm.

That from the man Missouri Republicans just picked to go up against Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in November. He’s currently a member of the U.S. House.

The Democratic super PAC American Bridge posted the clip to YouTube.

And his Democratic opponent Senator McCaskill tweeted , “As a woman and former prosecutor who handled hundreds of rape cases, I’m stunned by Akin’s comments.”

But as The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake points out, Akin’s not the first in socially conservative circles to make a similar claim.

In 2003, The Jewish Daily Forward quoted judicial nominee James Leon Holmes as saying, “ conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami.”

In 1995, an AP article quoted then-North Carolina Rep. Henry Aldridge as saying, “The facts show that people who are raped, who are truly raped, the juices don't flow, the body functions don't work and they don't get pregnant.”

Blake cites a 1996 study , and we couldn’t find a more recent one, that estimates 5 percent of rape victims end up impregnated. At the time of the study, that was estimated to be about 32,000 pregnancies from rape in a year.

Late Sunday, Akin released a statement saying he “misspoke,” calling his remarks “off-the-cuff” and promising rape victims “a stronger advocate” if he’s elected. We have a link to his full statement in our transcript section.