Todd Akin was arrested at least three times during '80s abortion protests
1 hour ago
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS • Congressman Todd Akin was arrested at least three times in the 1980s during anti-abortion protests, not just the one time he has publicly acknowledged.
Akin's previously undisclosed arrests, in 1985, were for criminal trespass and resisting arrest at abortion clinic protests in St. Louis and Illinois.
Akin, a Republican who is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, boasted last month that he'd once been arrested at an anti-abortion demonstration years earlier. A long-time anti-abortion activist, he referenced the event as one he was proud of, but his campaign didn't provide additional details.
The additional arrests came to light during a new search of the newspaper's archives. The arrests were missed in previous searches because the news stories had listed Akin by his given first name, William.
Akin subsequently started going by his middle name, Todd, when he began his political career in the state legislature in the late 1980s, and has been listed as Todd Akin in media coverage since then.
In an emailed response, Akin spokesman Rick Tyler dismissed the issue as “something that happened a quarter century ago.”
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