KENOSHA, Wis. -- Three days after Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock sparked a firestorm for saying that pregnancies from rape are "something God intended to happen," Vice President Joe Biden linked the remark - along with another by controversial candidate by Missouri GOP Senate candidate Todd Akin -- to the Republican ticket. 

"They made it very clear that they do not believe a woman has a right to control her own body," Biden said of Republican standard-bearers Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. "They can't even get up the gumption to condemn the statements made by 2 of their candidates for United states Senate."  

This summer, Missouri candidate Akin designated "legitimate rape" as a scenario in which physical pregnancy could not occur, prompting Republican leaders - including Romney - to urge him to exit the competitive race. 

Romney called Akin's language "offensive and wrong" but was less vigorous about Mourdock's statement, saying he "disagreed" but still backs him. 

"It's not enough to tell me you don't agree," Biden said Friday, alluding to Romney's distance from Mourdock's statement but refusal to rescind his endorsement of the Indiana candidate. "It's having the moral courage to stand up and say what they said was wrong, simply wrong." 

Biden has consistently been critical of the Republican ticket's views on abortion, but he has not specifically named either of the two controversial Senate candidates before. 

The vice president's critique came at his last event of a day-long swing through Wisconsin. He will travel to Lynchburg, VA tomorrow for a rally, but the campaign has cancelled a planned Virginia Beach event due to an impending storm. 

TAMPA, FL – President Barack Obama referenced an Indiana Republican candidate's controversial comments about rape on Thursday, looking to inject the controversy into the presidential campaign.

The president's campaign has been looking to link comments by Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock -- in which he suggested a higher power intends pregnancies that result from instances of rape -- to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, though Obama himself stopped short this morning of drawing a direct connection.

“As we saw again this week, I don’t think any politician in Washington, most of whom are male, should be making health care decisions for women,” Obama said.

Earlier Thursday, the Obama campaign did the work of linking Romney and Mourdock more directly, blasting an email to reporters titled, “Mitt Romney and Richard Mourdock” that said Romney hasn’t reconsidered his endorsement of the Republican Indiana Senate nominee or “ever once stood up to the most extreme elements of his party.”

And Wednesday during a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Obama reiterated his stance on rape that he previously articulated during the dustup over Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s comment on “legitimate rape.”

“Rape is rape,” he said.

Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said Wednesday that his controversial comments regarding conception following rape are being taken out of context. At a Tuesday night debate versus Democratic opponent Joe Donnelly, he said that when women become pregnant after being raped, “that’s something God intended.”

The Indiana state treasurer said Tuesday in response to a question about abortion rights: "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something God intended to happen."

Mourdock, a favorite of Tea Party supporters, said Wednesday that his comments were inelegantly stated, and subsequently mischaracterized by Democrats.

"I am a much more humble person this morning. Because so many people mistook, twisted, came to misunderstand the points that I was trying to make," he said at a press conference in Indiana. "And if, because of the lack of clarity in my words, that they came away with the impression other than I stated a moment ago -- that life is precious, that I abhor violence and that I'm confident God abhors violence and rape -- if they came away with any impression other than that, I truly regret it."

Mourdock's comments not only threaten to make a competitive Senate race more challenging for the GOP, but also, by proxy, exacerbate Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's struggles with female voters.

Romney appeared in a television ad on Monday that endorsed Mourdock, the only such ad the GOP standard-bearer has cut for a Senate candidate this cycle. The Romney campaign released a statement on Tuesday evening taking exception to the Indiana Senate candidate's comments, and Mourdock said on Wednesday that he hadn't spoken to Romney or any other Republican who had urged him to apologize.

Romney's campaign issued a statement on Wednesday reiterating its support for Mourdock, while emphasizing its differences from Mourdock on allowing abortion in cases of rape and when the mother’s health is in danger.

Democrats have tried to make hay of the controversy, releasing a flurry of statements demanding that Romney more forcefully disavow Mourdock and take down the television ad. (Mourdock said Wednesday that the ads continued to run in Indiana.)

"For those who kind of want to twist the comments, and use them for partisan, political gain -- I think that's wrong with Washington these days," Mourdock said of the response his comments had provoked. "I'm confident that Hoosier voters are going to be moving on and supporting us in big numbers in 13 days."

The controversy threatened to remind voters of other Republicans' comments this election about rape, most notably Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's comments earlier this summer asserting that "legitimate rape" rarely results in pregnancy. Republicans more sharply distanced themselves from Akin, a congressman, and urged him to drop out of the race.

Akin never withdrew, though, a move which is widely regarded to have hurt the GOP's chances of beating Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri and, by extension, retake the U.S. Senate. Republicans must pick up a bet of four seats on Nov. 6 -- three, if Romney is elected president -- in order to wrest control of the upper chamber from Democrats. The GOP entered the 2012 elections with hopes of achieving that goal, but candidates' missteps and better-than-expected performances by some Democrats have made control of the Senate an open question in this election.

Whether this hurts Mourdock's race versus Donnelly -- or is able to translate into a political millstone for Romney -- is an open question in the waning days before Election Day. Mourdock took strides toward reassuring important women voters of his stance.

"I don't think God wants rape, because rape is evil," he said. "I want to assure every woman who hears this, who hears the story of this, that I abhor it, and I'm confident God abhors this."

Mitt Romney will stay neutral in the Indiana Senate primary, one of the biggest battles in 2012 between establishment Republicans and the insurgent, conservative wing of the GOP.

A Romney campaign official said Friday that the former Massachusetts governor has no plans to endorse either six-term Sen. Richard Lugar, or his challenger, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, in the May 8 primary.

MSNBC.com's Tom Curry writes Friday of the upcoming showdown:

As Lugar struggles to fend off Mourdock’s challenge, Democrats hope their candidate, Rep. Joe Donnelly, will profit from the GOP schism and pick up the incumbent’s seat in November.

That schism, between the party's establishment and conservative wing, is on full display in Indiana. Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks have backed Mourdock, as did the fiscally conservative Club for Growth.

But Republicans like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have endorsed Lugar, setting up a proxy fight between the two wings of the GOP in a couple of weeks.

Romney has generally steered clear of involvement in Senate primaries this cycle as he had focused on winning his own presidential primary. However, he backed Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch -- another veteran Republican targeted by the GOP's Tea Party wing -- against conservative challengers in this primary season.

Democrats have also complained about the neutrality of Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, a recognized conservative who's seeking the Hoosier State's governorship, in the primary.