Todd Akin News

To those who accuse the Republican Party of inflexibility on social issues such as abortion, its leaders can always point to their ability to reach around and slap a "kick me" sign on their own backs.

It started Monday, when U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-TX, offered comments amid debate of a proposed ban on abortion after 20 weeks.

The House on Tuesday evening voted 228-196 on legislation banning abortion after 20 weeks - with the bill's champion conspicuously absent from the debate.

Rep. Ami Bera , a doctor who was elected to Congress last year, questioned Tuesday why his Republican colleagues brought a bill to the floor to restrict abortions beyond 20 weeks when they knew it had no chance of becoming law.

A group that supports President Obama is trying to link an anti-abortion measure passed Tuesday by the House of Representatives to Rep. Todd Akin's comment last summer that women cannot become pregnant after a "legitimate rape."

They've waxed philosophic about "legitimate rape," reflected on the economic role of "wetbacks" and denounced the actions of "brazen, self-described illegal aliens."

Twenty-one years ago, Grinnell College student Tammy Zywicki, then 21, was driving back to school from her home in New Jersey when her car broke down on an Illinois highway.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the Democrat who got national attention for her race against Todd Akin of "legitimate rape" fame , this morning formally endorsed a 2016 Clinton bid through Ready for Hillary , an independent group that is, well, ready for Hillary to run.

The short film is as tricky an art to master as it is to offer solid criticism on, and yet, as is usually the case, when a solid piece of work is placed before the eyes, solid criticism comes.

Last week, Republican Rep. Trent Franks dismissed concerns about banning abortion for victims of rape and incest by saying that they really don't get pregnant all that often so it's no big deal.

HOUSE SET TO VOTE ON 20-WEEK ABORTION BAN BILL The House is set to plunge back into a battle over abortion today when lawmakers vote on a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks nationwide.

After Republicans lost the presidential election and seats in both the House and the Senate last year, many in the party offered a stern admonishment: If we want to broaden our appeal, steer clear of divisive social and cultural issues.

House Republican leaders are hoping to head off a repeat of last week's controversy over the issue of whether there should be an exception for cases of rape and incest in a GOP sponsored bill banning late term abortions by adding that exception before the House debates the measure on Tuesday.

The federal abortion wars are back this week, as the House of Representatives votes on a national ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, that is highly unlikely to become law.

Usually on the internet when Nazi analogies come into play, it means Godwin's Law -the theory that all online arguments will eventually devolve into a Hitler comparison-has been invoked and the conversation is over.

Rep. Ann Wagner may no longer be a diplomat, but she's always had a bit of a diplomatic nature.

Didn't we go over this already? Apparently the backlash surrounding Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's controversial-and wildly inaccurate--claim that you can't get pregnant from "legitimate rape" didn't make an impact on Trent Franks.

House Republicans have modified a tough anti-abortion bill to include exceptions for rape and incest after the GOP sponsor of the legislation raised a firestorm by declaring that very few rapes result in pregnancies.

After Todd Akin last year and Trent Franks this week, abortion is about the last topic many national Republicans want the political conversation to focus on.

Rick Santorum has had a hard time getting in the discussion about 2016. The deep bench of Republican contenders for the next presidential election has moved the unofficial runner up in the 2012 GOP contest to the party's back burner.