Former Minnesota Vikings football player Matt Birk reads the invocation to a crowd at a campaign rally for President Donald Trump Friday, Oct. 30, 2020 in Rochester, Minn. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)

Like his partnered gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen, Minnesota lieutenant governor candidate Matt Birk spoke out against abortion access for rape survivors during a 2020 speech at an anti-abortion summit.

Birk made the comments while speaking at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington D.C. in January 2020.

“Rape is a horrible thing. Let me tell you: Abortion is not going to heal a rape victim. It will only make things worse,” Birk said. “We have adoption.”

He mentioned that two of his eight children were adopted, commending the birth mothers for making “the greatest act of love that I have ever witnessed, which is to place their child up for a loving adoption and to bless my family with them.”

During the same speech, Birk claimed that “everybody’s born pro-life” but that over time, “some people get it twisted” and justify abortion care. He compared being pro-abortion to the Biblical story of the first sin in the Garden of Eden. He later says that “abortion must be evil” because no one celebrates getting one.

Jensen made similar anti-abortion comments during an interview with Minneapolis’ WCCO radio station earlier this month. When asked if his proposed abortion ban bill would allow for exceptions, he refused to allow survivors of rape and incest to get access to abortion care “unless the mother’s life is in danger.” Even then, he said an exception for the mother’s life was a “potential” exemption.

A 2013 Super Bowl champion, Birk made headlines that year by refusing to visit the White House with the rest of the champion Baltimore Ravens. The devout Catholic cited his strong disagreement over then-President Barack Obama’s pro-abortion stance and advocacy for Planned Parenthood as the reason for skipping the ceremony.

A poll released Wednesday by KSTP and Survey USA showed the Jensen/Birk ticket doing the best against Gov. Tim Walz in a hypothetical general election. Jensen (39%) trails Walz (44%) by just five percentage points, just barely above the margin of error (4.9 percentage points).

The Minnesota GOP will officially vote on its candidate endorsements for the August 9 primary this Saturday.