The last several weeks have not been good for Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana. The two-term state treasurer, who beat six-term incumbent Senator Dick Lugar in the GOP primary in May, has fallen back in the polls against his Democratic opponent, Congressman Joe Donnelly. A recent poll, from Brian Howey and Depauw University, showed an 11-point lead for Donnelly.

Presumably, this drop stems from Mourdock’s response to a question at an October 23 debate about his position on abortion. Mourdock opposes abortion in all instances except for when the life of the mother is at risk, and when explaining his opposition to aborting pregnancies that occur as a result of rape, he said the following: “I just struggled with it myself for a long time but I came to realize, life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”