WATCH: This GOP Candidate Believes Life Begins BEFORE Conception, & He Wants It Coded Into Law

Republican politicians routinely push the notion that the law must recognize a fetus as a separate human being from its parent, with unique DNA and individuality that makes the termination of a pregnancy the equivalent of murder, a claim through which they justify denying the pregnant person the bodily autonomy to determine whether or not to carry a pregnancy. Now, they’re going further — one Republican, running to be the Governor of Oklahoma, says that in his view, life begins even before conception, and that the government should impose punishments on those who seek an abortion.

The far-right claims that theocrats don’t plan to take their anti-choice agenda to the next extreme by attacking access to birth control. However, it’s hard to believe that when candidates like Mark Sherwood, who hopes to be the next Governor of Oklahoma, say the quiet part aloud.

RawStory reporter David Edwards shared this clip of Sherwood, appearing on a right-wing news program, and declaring his beliefs that life begins before conception, and that ending said life should result in “punishment” issued by the government.

Mark Sherwood, a Republican candidate for governor in Oklahoma, claimed that life begins "before" conception and that there should be "no exceptions" for abortions in the case of rape, incest or life of the mother. He wants more "punishment" for abortions. pic.twitter.com/6KVQpvYVR1

— David Edwards (@DavidEdwards) May 26, 2022

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“No life, even conceived in the most heinous or less than ideal circumstances, is a mistake…Even the people that are pro-choice are not mistakes…I believe life begins in God before it begins at conception.”

This doesn’t make Sherwood much more extreme than the incumbent Republican, Kevin Stitt, who opposes permitting abortions even in the case of rape or incest, but insists that he has a “super, super compassionate” position on those cases.

Basically, Oklahoma Republicans are making it clear that if the Supreme Court gives the green light this summer, as expected, they’re going to happily rip bodily autonomy from half the people in the state — as other right-wing legislatures across the country do the same to their residents.