GOP candidate says rape victims shouldn't have abortions because God may want them to give birth to the next president

A GOP candidate for governor in Michigan has stoked further controversy on abortion rights by claiming that rape victims could deliver “the next president” of the United States.

Garrett Soldano, a gubernatorial candidate for the 2022 Michigan Republican primary, suggested in a recent that he was against abortions because women could deliver a new president or “the next person that changes humanity”.

Mr Soldano was widely condemned on social media for suggesting that even women who were victims of rape should be encouraged to give birth no matter their personal circumstances.

“So what we must start to focus on is not only to defend the DNA when it’s created but ... how about we start inspiring women and a culture to let them understand and know how heroic they are and how unbelievable they are that God put them in this moment”, said the GOP candidate.

“They don’t know that baby inside them might be the next president, maybe the next person that changes humanity, [and] they get us out of this situation, they don’t know that.”

The remarks, which appeared in a podcast earlier this month, were circulated on Twitter at the weekend after Michigan-based news radio station WCPT-Heartland Signal shared the 19 January episode of April Moss’s Face the Facts.

“If that is his position he should run to be a pastor somewhere,” wrote a critic of the GOP candidate. “He must be kept out of government on any level.

“Hell no!!!!!!,” wrote another on Twitter. “So much to unpack here but just off the top. Women are supposed to continue the pregnancy and tolerate mental anguish for their entire life due to GOP fetishising the presidential job?”

Mr Soldano, who faces challenges from fellow Republicans James Craig, Kevin Rinke and and Tudor Dixon for the party’s gubernatorial nomination in Michigan, continued by saying on Face the Facts that he was “always going to fight for life”.

“I get it, there’s a lot of situations out there when you talk about rape and everything else and maybe they deserve an abortion,” said ,the GOP candidate. “We’re always gonna fight for life.”

“And I have a great personal story of one of my mentors and what he was going through. He started to look up his birth family to figure out who they were and he figured out that his mum was gang raped at a subway train station by five guys and it kind of like tore out his heart when he found that out

“But then he started to appreciate what his birth mother went through, that she had the courage to deliver him and since he was delivered he has helped thousands of people be better versions of themselves.”

Mr Soldano recently polled at 33.2 per cent against Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer on 49.6 per cent in a WDIV/Detroit News poll, and she is widely expected to be elected for a second term in November.

Elections are taking place across the US later this year to chose a number of congressional seats and state-level positions, with the rolling-back of abortion rights by Republicans in several US states set to be a major deciding factor for voters.

The Independent has approached Mr Soldano’s office for comment.