Shortest Way Home, by Pete Buttigieg: on Families & Children

Richard Mourdock: Pregnancies resulting from rape express the will of God

Helped by his far-right credentials and loyal Tea Party base, Mourdock won the primary, ending Lugar's thirty-six years of Senate service.

In the general election Mourdock faced Donnelly, who had entered the Senate race after his House district got redrawn unfavorably by the now very Republican state legislature. During the final debate in the last days of the election, Mourdock made another national splash--this time by saying that he believed pregnancies resulting from rape were an expression of the will of God. An outcry followed and national Republicans distanced themselves from him, allowing Donnelly to beat the odds and win the seat.