Update, 9:45 a.m.: Mourdock is standing by his words. From USA Today:

At a news conference Wednesday, Mourdock said he regrets his remark made during a debate against Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly. Mourdock, the Indiana state treasurer, said he abhors sexual violence and is opposed to violence of any kind.

'If they came away with any impression other than that I truly regret it, I apologize," he said. "I've certainly been humbled by the fact that so many people that somehow was an interpretation."

 The nation's Republicans don't quite know what to do with Senate candidate Richard Mourdock after his remark during a debate Tuesday in which he said pregnancy resulting from rape may be "something that God intended."

Fox News reported Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee who denounced Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin in August after his "legitimate rape" comment, is standing by Mourdock.

"Richard and I, along with millions of Americans — including even Joe Donnelly — believe that life is a gift from God," Cornyn said in a statement Wednesday. "To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous."

Mourdock's opponent, Rep. Joe Donnelly, had jumped on Mourdock during the debate, the first of many to articulate a comparison to Akin's remarks. 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has tried to distance himself from Mourdock's slip-up, but the timing is unfortunate for the former governor of Massachusetts. A television ad featuring Romney's endorsement of Mourdock began airing just a day before in Indiana.

READ MORE: 'God Intended' Pregnancies From Rape, Richard Mourdock Says 

According to Politico, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts also tried to put space between himself and Mourdock. "Scott Brown is pro-choice and does not agree with the views expressed by Richard Mourdock," press secretary Alleigh Marre said  in a statement. "They do not reflect his thinking at all."

Democrats have been on the war path since yesterday. From Politico:

“Richard Mourdock is trying to walk away from his reprehensible comments last night and claim that we misrepresented his assertion that pregnancies resulting from rape are part of God’s will,” [Indiana Democratic Party chair] Dan Parker said in a statement. “His Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who won’t say if he still endorses Mourdock, took his words that way. I’m a pro-life Catholic, and I took his words that way. What he said was extreme and terribly disrespectful to rape victims, and he knows it. Before last night, Richard Mourdock was just a Tea Party Zealot, now he is an extreme Tea Party Zealot. He just disqualified himself to be Indiana’s next U.S. Senator.”

And Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Patty Murray said Romney needs to do more to disavow Mourdock.

“While Mitt Romney is rightly distancing himself from Richard Mourdock today, his ad endorsing Mourdock’s extreme candidacy continues to air in Indiana,” said Murray, a Senator from Washington state. “If Mitt Romney is serious about repudiating these heinous views on rape, he will take down this ad immediately. National Republicans cannot paper over Richard Mourdock’s heinous views on rape. Enough is enough. The Republican Party needs to stop the coddling and take a stand against the horribly offensive and dangerous views of the Tea Party and their extreme candidates.”

President Barack Obama's campaign had this to say:

"The president felt those comments were outrageous and demeaning to women,'' Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "This is a reminder that a Republican Congress working with a Republican president Mitt Romney would (feel) that women should not be able to make choices about their own health care."

Unsurprisingly, the Twitterverse erupted after Mourdock's comment. See below for some choice reactions.

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