It didn’t help former Rep. Todd Akin win his Missouri U.S. Senate bid, but talking about “legitimate rape” won “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” its highest overall audience share in nearly three months.
Those Nielsen numbers follow Wednesday night’s episode, “Legitimate Rape,” which featured a character identified as a congressman and former obstetrician who testified in a rape trial that “it’s nearly impossible for victims of legitimate rape to become pregnant” because “the body has a mechanism for shutting down ovulation in response to stress.”
That’s nearly word for word what Akin said in August on a St. Louis TV station — comments that started a nationwide controversy and were blamed for his loss in the race.
As Sen. Claire McCaskill, the Democrat who beat Akin in Missouri’s general election, tweeted, “Now this is surreal.”
