Obama Camp Ties Romney to Mourdock Comments

Indiana Senate candidate said Tuesday a woman becoming pregnant during a rape "is something that God intended to happen"

Less than two weeks out from the election, President Barack Obama's campaign quickly tied opponent Mitt Romney to controversial comments made this week by Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock.

During a Tuesday night debate, Mourdock said a woman becoming pregnant during a rape "is something that God intended to happen." The remark sparked a near-instant controversy, and Obama's camp on Wednesday called the comment "outrageous and demeaning to women," according to a Air Force One pool report.

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters the comment signals Republicans' extreme views on issues important to women and said it's "perplexing" that Romney wouldn't demand to take down a television ad that began airing this week in Indiana featuring him supporting Mourdock. 

"This is a reminder that a Republican Congress working with a Republican president Mitt Romney would [feel] that women should not be able to make choices about their own health care," Psaki said.

Though it remains unclear how the comments will affect the Nov. 6 election, Romney quickly disavowed the comments in a statement to the Associated Press.

"Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock's comments, and they do not reflect his views," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.

The AP reported that Romney's aides would not say whether the television ad would be taken down.

Obama's team isn't waiting. "I think it is clear that Mitt Romney, that many Republicans who are running for office including him, including Mr. Murdock have very extreme positions on issue that women care deeply about in this country," Psaki said. "That if they have the opportunity to be partners, in the White House and the Senate, then that is something that women should have, and I think will have, concern about as they are going to the voting booth."

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