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"Sophia Bush wants women to think long and hard about the men who are campaigning for their votes.\r\nDuring an August 19 interview with St. Louis television station KTVI-TV, Republican congressman Todd Akin, 65, was asked his opinion regarding whether rape victims who become pregnant should have the option to get an abortion.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that&amp;apos;s really rare. If it&amp;apos;s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,&amp;quot; Akin responded. &amp;quot;But let&amp;apos;s assume that maybe that didn&amp;apos;t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nAlmost immediately, Akin received backlash for his remarks and released a statement clarifying his stance on the issue. &amp;quot;I recognize that abortion, and particularly in the case of rape, is a very emotionally charged issue. But I believe deeply in the protection of all life and I do not believe that harming another innocent victim is the right course of action,&amp;quot; he explained.\r\n\r\nRepublican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, 65, called Akin&amp;apos;s comments &amp;quot;inexcusable.&amp;quot; He later told New Hampshire television station WMUR 9 that Akin&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;comments about rape were deeply offensive, and I can&amp;apos;t defend what he said. I can&amp;apos;t defend him.&amp;quot;\r\nDuring a mid-August interview, Romney&amp;apos;s running mate, Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, 42, asserted that he is &amp;quot;very proud&amp;quot; of his &amp;quot;pro-life record,&amp;quot; and referred to rape as a &amp;quot;method of conception.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nUpset with Akin and Ryan&amp;apos;s comments, Bush vented about their positions via Twitter beginning August 27. &amp;quot;Paul Ryan called rape a &amp;apos;method of conception&amp;apos; and no news media is talking about it?&amp;quot; the Partners actress tweeted. &amp;quot;I am honestly nauseous because of all these Rep. men defending rape/rape pregnancy. Gents, you will never know what it means.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;Rape, sexual assault, any time a woman is harassed against her will -- it&amp;apos;s all legitimate. And horrifying. How dare anyone say otherwise,&amp;quot; the politically-minded actress continued. &amp;quot;Ladies, if you don&amp;apos;t want to be relegated back to the 1950s, I urge you to look at what candidates are planning to do with your rights. I will only vote for a man who understands that my body, as a woman, belongs to me and me alone.&amp;quot;\r\nBush, 30, added that she&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;never been a fan of either political party,&amp;quot; but &amp;quot;seeing such lack of equality for women being promoted by one side has made me a staunch supporter of the other recently, more so than ever before. If you think that just because we have vaginas we don&amp;apos;t deserve sheer and total equality, then you don&amp;apos;t get my vote. Simple as that. Don&amp;apos;t like it? Then hop off my [Twitter] feed and be a discriminatory a--hole somewhere else.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nOn August 28, as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Tampa, Florida, Bush continued to defend her views on the social media site. &amp;quot;Wanting women to have control of their bodies and access to medical care does not equal being &amp;apos;pro-abortion.&amp;apos; Who the hell is &amp;apos;pro&amp;apos; that?&amp;quot; she tweeted. &amp;quot;There&amp;apos;s a big damn difference people. It should be up to women and their docs. Not a bunch of dudes in DC.&amp;quot;\r\nPresident Barack Obama, 51 -- who is campaigning for a second term as the nation&amp;apos;s commander-in-chief -- has also condemned the congressman&amp;apos;s remarks.\r\n&amp;quot;Rape is rape, and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn&amp;apos;t make sense to the American people and certainly doesn&amp;apos;t make sense to me,&amp;quot; Obama told reporters at a White House briefing August 20."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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