Ugh: Rep. Steve King says he’s never heard of pregnancy following statutory rape, incest he doesn’t personally know a 12-year-old who was raped; Updated and corrected; Twitchy apologizes to Rep. King for misinterpreting his remarks

In an interview yesterday, Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa was asked for his thoughts on the Todd Akin fiasco. King avoided commenting specifically on Akin’s remarks and chose instead to focus on Akin’s moral character, calling him a “strong Christian man, with a wonderful family.”

Even in the face of mounting pressure from Republicans for Akin to withdraw from his senate race, King probably wouldn’t have faced too heavy of a backlash from his party for commenting only on Akin’s character. But King didn’t stop there. He went on to produce an extremely cringe-worthy nugget of his own:

King supports the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” It would ban Federal funding of abortions except in cases of forcible rape. Right now, Medicaid also covers abortions for victims of statutory rape or incest – for example, a 12 year old who gets pregnant.

Congressman King says he’s not aware of any young victims like that.

“Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way, and I’d be open to discussion about that subject matter,” he said.

For the record, it’s important to note that the term “forcible rape” was removed from the bill, and the language makes clear that rape is rape; one kind is no less criminal than another (more on that here). But still. Yikes. Really, Rep. King? Really??? Not only is that statement absolutely ludicrous, but it’s dangerous. As if the GOP didn’t already have to contend with ridiculous charges from the Left that all Republicans are woman-hating rape apologists, King has just made their job more difficult.

In response to the claims of him not believing that pregnancy can occur following statutory rape or incest, Rep. King is asserting that his remarks were taken out of context. Upon further review, we agree. It appears that King was merely stating that he had never dealt personally with a 12-year-old rape victim and not that he did not believe pregnancy was possible for a girl in that situation.

After Talking Points Memo reported the statements, King’s campaign fired back, telling the website that “of course” he was aware that girls have become pregnant from statutory rape and incest and supported people who had not been forcibly raped having access to federal abortion coverage under a rape exemption.

“What he was saying was he personally does not know a girl who was raped,” King spokeswoman Brittany Lesser said. “He never says, ‘I’ve never heard of that.’ There’s a fine line between ‘I’ve never heard of that’ and ‘I don’t know personally anybody who’s been raped.’ There’s a difference. There is a difference.”

In light of the Akin controversy, it can be tempting to pounce on potentially questionable comments in order to defend conservatives from further smears by the Left. But that is no excuse for getting swept up in a media frenzy without a solid understanding of all the facts. In passing judgment about Rep. King prematurely, we played into the hands of the leftist media we pride ourselves on exposing. To Rep. King, we sincerely apologize for putting forth misleading information and for any resulting negative speculation as to your personal character.