Minnesota Republican falsely says that birth control pills are ‘designed to abort’

During an appearance on “The Good Fight” podcast in 2019, Minnesota Republican state House candidate Sue Ek falsely stated birth control pills are not good options for women because they are “designed to abort” fetuses.

“It’s not a good option for women and certainly not for Catholic women because the third action of the pill is designed to abort,” Ek said on the Catholic podcast.

NEW AUDIO: Minnesota GOP statehouse candidate Sue Ek falsely claimed on a Catholic podcast in 2019 that birth control pills are “not a good option for women and certainly not for Catholic women because the third action of the pill is designed to abort.” pic.twitter.com/zqZpEZhF9f

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) July 31, 2024

Birth control pills are a contraceptive that alter a woman’s menstrual cycle to prevent ovulation and in turn pregnancy. “The pill” is not designed to abort fetuses in the womb because it prevents pregnancy from happening in the first place. According to a 2019 survey from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 65% of women aged 15-49 use birth control.

Ek is running to represent District 14B in Minnesota’s state House of Representatives. The seat is currently held by incumbent Rep. Dan Wolgamott (D-St. Cloud), the speaker pro tempore who first assumed office in 2019. Wolgamott told the St. Cloud Times earlier this month that Ek’s far-right views on social issues do not reflect the local issues in his district.

“Rather than focusing on these divisive social issues that aren’t really responding to problems in our community, we need a leader who knows the people of this district and the issues it’s facing,” Wolgamott said.

Ek previously ran for the statehouse in 2005, when she made her anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ views known. At the time, Ek expressed her disapproval of Minnesota’s Defense of Marriage Act that was passed in 1997, which stated that lawful marriage was only recognized between members of the opposite sex. Ek said the law didn’t go far enough because same-sex couples could get married out of state and still be recognized.

This law is now void because of the 2015 Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, which protects same-sex marriage at the federal level. However, the 61-year-old Ek told the St. Cloud Times that she still believes that marriage is “between a man and a woman.”

EDITOR’S NOTE (8/1): A previous version of this article stated that Ek lived in Wisconsin. She lives in Minnesota.