Missouri Republican Party funds Akin ad featuring rape victim

The Missouri Republican Party is reportedly helping to fund a new ad for Rep. Todd Akin featuring a woman who says she survived rape and had an abortion.

"I’m a single mother — a woman who’s had an abortion," Kelly Burrell explains in the television commercial. "I've been raped in my past."

"The reason I’m voting for Todd, and that I’m so proud of him, is because he defends the unborn, he’s a kind man," she adds.

Akin came under fire in September after he asserted that women could not get pregnant through “legitimate rape,” but it was not clear from the advertisement if Burrell's rape had resulted in pregnancy.

In a separate web video, Burell indicates that she no longer supports abortion rights.

"Our Declaration [of Independence] states that everybody has a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness," she says. "And you can't pursue happiness if you don't get born. And Todd understands that and he fights for the unborn."

Burell also notes that she knows Akin and his family personally: "I love Todd. I'm so proud of him for fighting the good fight and for persevering through all the personal attacks that are unfounded, they're untrue."

The Missouri Republican Party funded $387,000 of a $700,000 ad buy for the Akin campaign prior to the Nov. 6 election. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) told CNN's Dana Bash that they would not comment on whether they contributed some of the funds.

A recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll gave Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill a 2-point edge over Akin.

The McCaskill campaign did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Watch this video from Todd Akin for Senate, broadcast Nov. 1, 2012.