This situation reminds me of the professor that lost his job because he used the word “niggardly” offending the uneducated, hyper-reactionaries.
Legitimate: “able to be defended with logic or justification”. In other words, that which is not falsely claimed.
Are you suggesting the two comments are in the same league? To be sure, there are a lot of liberals upset over this use of "legitimate," but I'm more ticked off at his naivete about how dangerous the subject of rape (*any* rape) is. He was trying to softpedal his stance on abortion in the case of a rape. Not only that but it does make one wonder what other kinds of rape he thinks there are.
This was worse than a disaster, it was a blunder. An unforced error leading to a game-winning run.