Campaign photo Minnesota state Rep. Bernie Perryman (R-St. Cloud) from May 22, 2024 of her holding a printout of the state's budget bill. (Photo via Representative Bernie Perryman on Facebook)

In a newly uncovered video from 2022, state Rep. Bernie Perryman (R-St. Cloud) can be seen telling local Republicans that she supports a total abortion ban.

“I am a pro-lifer and I do support life to the unborn. They have respect, we should respect every unborn through every stage of life. There should be no cause to have an abortion,” Perryman says in the clip.

Perryman made the remarks during a meet-and-greet in St. Cloud with then-GOP gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen on June 15, 2022. The original video appears to be posted by Jenny Davis, the co-founder of the right-wing activist group Central Minnesota Freedom Activists.

The freshman representative, who is up for reelection this year, made abortion a key aspect of her tenure. Perryman backed multiple bills that would limit state funding to abortion services and block the mythical “partial-birth abortion” from being performed in Minnesota. Both bills were blocked by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) majority. 

Perryman’s challenger for 2024 is the DFL-backed Abdi Daisane, a local businessman. Her St. Cloud seat is very competitive: Perryman won by just 199 votes in 2022.