Democrats in Connecticut are seizing on Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon’s apparent opposition to a state law requiring hospitals to offer rape victims emergency contraception after the issue was part of a heated discussion in a debate Monday night.
Democratic candidate Chris Murphy brought up emergency contraception again and again during the debate, leading McMahon to offer a response that seemed to both restate her original position while also trying to distance herself from it.
“It was really an issue about a Catholic church being forced to offer those pills if the person came in an emergency rape,” McMahon said. “That was my response to it. I absolutely think that we should avail women who come in with rape victims the opportunity to have those morning after pills or that treatment that they should get.”
McMahon’s opposition to hospitals being required to offer emergency contraception to rape victims came in a discussion about Catholic-run hospitals with the Hartford Courant’s editorial board.
The Murphy campaign said McMahon’s stance is reminiscent of Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s infamous “legitmate rape” remarks. (McMahon called those statements “reprehensible” back in August after Akin made them.)
“Linda McMahon told the Courant that she agrees with Todd Akin and right-wing Republicans that some rape victims shouldn’t be shown compassion, they should be shown the door,” Eli Zupnick, a Murphy campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.
