BECAUSE... the public doesn't understand the words LEGITIMATE RAPE ?
No, because he couldn’t back-up what he was saying as fact. That’s all.
Akin said what he meant to say, he didn’t know whether or not it was accurate.
If he misstated a point he wanted to make, it could have been more easily pointed out as in error, it would have been more easily perceived as a mistake, and most rational folks would allow for a correction.