A Trump-backed candidate for Michigan secretary of state made comments in 2020 comparing abortion to “satanic practice” and “child sacrifice,” CNN’s KFile reported on Monday.
Kristina Karamo, a community college professor and former poll worker who claimed to witness election fraud during the 2020 presidential election, made the comments during an episode of her podcast “It’s Solid Food” in October 2020.
“Abortion is really nothing new. The child sacrifice is a very satanic practice, and that’s precisely what abortion is,” she said. “And we need to see it as such.”
Karamo also said abortion is the “greatest crime” in the country’s history.
“When people in other cultures, when they engage in child sacrifice, they didn’t just sacrifice the child for the sake of bloodshed,” she said. “They sacrificed the child because they were hoping to get prosperity and that’s precisely why people have abortion now. ‘Because I’m not ready. I don’t wanna have a baby. I don’t feel like it. I don’t have time. I wanna make more money. I want my freedom.’ So you’re sacrificing that child hoping to get something out of their death, which is your freedom, your happiness, your prosperity.”
Karamo’s campaign did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.
The report comes in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, thrusting abortion rights into the center of this year’s midterm elections.
A handful of states moved to immediately ban abortion after the ruling, and others will have bans come into effect 30 days after it.
A 1931 Michigan law bans abortion in the state with no exceptions for rape or incest. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) filed a motion to the state’s highest court last month asking it to recognize a right to abortion in the state constitution.
Karamo’s campaign website emphasizes her opposition to abortion.
She has received increased attention after claiming without evidence that widespread voter fraud occurred throughout Michigan in 2020.
If Karamo is elected secretary of state, she would be in charge of overseeing elections in the state during the next presidential cycle.