NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) - Republican Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock is finding himself on the defensive after saying when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape "that's something God intended."

Mourdock made the comments when asked during a debate Tuesday night whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest.

He replied: "Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Mourdock's comments come two months after Missouri GOP Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin said women's bodies have ways of preventing pregnancy in cases of what he called "legitimate rape."

Mourdock is locked in a tight race with Democrat Rep. Joe Donnelly. Democrats quickly criticized Mourdock's comments, and a spokeswoman for Mitt Romney says the GOP presidential hopeful disagrees with Mourdock.

President Barack Obama's campaign says Mourdock's comments about rape are a reminder that Mitt Romney and a GOP-led Congress would feel women shouldn't be able to make choices about their health care.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki says Obama finds Richard Mourdock's comments "outrageous and demeaning to women." Mourdock, who is running for Senate in Indiana, said that when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape "that's something God intended."

Romney is featured in a television ad supporting Mourdock. Psaki says it was "perplexing" that Romney hasn't demanded the ad be taken down.

Romney's campaign says the GOP presidential nominee disagrees with Mourdock's comments.

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