ICYMI: Matt Birk Caught Making Hurtful Comments about Women and Abortion 

Conservative candidate for governor Scott Jensen has chosen anti-choice extremist and former NFL player Matt Birk as his running mate for the 2022 gubernatorial election. 

Birk has a mile-long track record of promoting extreme, hurtful policies. He is an outspoken opponent of marriage equality, promotes extreme anti-choice bans on abortion, and has been caught spreading baseless misinformation about COVID-19. 

Birk is even on the record arguing that Planned Parenthood is next to the KKK as the most racist organization in America. He also said rape victims shouldn’t be able to get an abortion, a callous position considering that Scott Jensen has previously threatened to ban abortion in Minnesota without exceptions for rape or incest.

And it doesn’t stop there. Since joining the Jensen ticket and following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Birk has doubled down on his attack on reproductive rights, women, and survivors of rape. 

The Epitome of an Anti-Choice Extremist

Recently, a video surfaced of Matt Birk making wildly offensive comments about women and abortion and promising to pass laws that ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest at a National Right to Life conference in June 2022, the day that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 

In the video, Birk celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. He compared safe, legal abortion to slavery and said, “women used to not be able to vote, now we let them drive.” 

He also reiterated that he doesn’t believe that rape victims should be able to get abortions and said that “if a woman is unexpectedly pregnant, she could be the answer to someone’s prayer.” 

Birk also repeated his and Scott Jensen’s intentions to ban abortion in Minnesota with no exceptions for rape or incest. 

To make it worse, conservative gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen defended Matt Birk’s wildly offensive comments about women and abortion. In an interview on WCCO, Jensen praised Birk’s refusal to “back off” from his extreme anti-choice positions on abortion. 

When confronted about his offensive comments during an interview about the video, Matt Birk tripled down, defending his out-of-touch remarks and confirming that he and Scott Jensen would ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest.

Minnesota is one of two states lacking a statute that terminates parental rights for alleged rapists. If Scott Jensen and Matt Birk pass an abortion ban without exceptions for rape, Minnesotans who survive sexual assault will not only be stripped of their right to choose but would have to share custody with their predator.

Birk’s backward positions on abortion are dangerous for Minnesota and out of touch with what Minnesotans want and need. Sixty percent of Minnesota voters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and sixty-five percent would oppose new severe restrictions on abortion. 

Stand up to Scott Jensen and Matt Birk 

Abortion is essential health care. And the decision about whether or not to have an abortion is deeply personal and best left to women and their doctors. 

Scott Jensen and Matt Birk have made it clear that they do not believe that everyone should have the freedom and power to control their own bodies and lives.

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