WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Rep. Phil Gingrey, an OB-GYN since 1975, said former Rep. Todd Akin was "partly right" when he said women's bodies can avoid pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape."

However, the six-term Georgia lawmaker issued a statement Friday, the day after his comments, saying his position was misconstrued and that he neither defends nor stands by Akin's remark.

Gingrey spoke to constituents at a Thursday breakfast meeting and commented on both Akin and Richard Mourdock, two Republican Senate candidates tripped up by their clumsy comments last year about rape and abortion, according to the Marietta Daily Journal in Georgia. Republicans disavowed Akin after his statement, and Mourdock was widely criticized when he said pregnancy resulting from rape is "something God intended."