Obama calls Missouri Republican rape comment offensive

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at Windham High School in Windham, New Hampshire August 18, 2012.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called comments from Republican Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin about rape and abortion "offensive" and "way out there" on Monday, and said politicians should not be making healthcare decisions on behalf of women.

"The views expressed were offensive. Rape is rape and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me," Obama told reporters in the White House briefing room.

Akin, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a television interview on Sunday that women have biological defenses to prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape," making legal abortion rights unnecessary.

(Reporting by Laura MacInnis and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Will Dunham)