Scott Jensen Defends Matt Birk's Outrageous Remarks

St.Paul, MN – After two weeks of silence, Scott Jensen has chosen to stand by his running mate and defend Matt Birk’s outrageous remarks about rape survivors, how encouraging women to have careers promotes abortion, playing the rape card, and comparing abortion to slavery.

In an interview with WCCO radio, Jensen was asked, “What are your thoughts on what Matt Birk said, and how he handled it?”

Jensen praised his running mate for his refusal to “back off.” Jensen said “I was proud of the fact that he wasn’t going to let – if you will – a certain corruption of his words cause him to sort of back off” and “His words were sort of taken out of context. They were sort of cut and pasted, and I think they basically tried to demonize him, and I think that he stood strong.”

“Scott Jensen’s choice to defend his running mate’s appalling remarks is proof that abortion is, in fact, on the ballot in November,” said Walz campaign manager Nichole Johnson. "The Jensen-Birk ticket has repeatedly promised to ban abortion when they take office, even for victims of rape and incest. There is no reason to believe that their frantic backpedaling is sincere.”

Jensen recently stated that he opposes banning abortion even for victims of rape and incest because “you don’t necessarily have the chance to prove that.”

Jensen defended his running mate’s remarks after video surfaced of Birk speaking at the National Right to Life Conference in Georgia on the day that Roe v. Wade was overturned. In that video, Matt Birk compared a rape survivor's choice to end their pregancy to the actions of their assailant, saying “two wrongs won’t make a right.” He also said our culture “promotes abortion” by telling women they should “have careers,” said that pro-choice advocates like to “go to the rape card,” and explicitly compared abortion to slavery.

Jensen and Birk have both repeatedly promised to ban abortion, even for victims of rape and incest. Gov. Walz has pledged to veto anti-choice legislation that comes to his desk and to not appoint anti-choice justices to the state Supreme Court.

In every state bordering Minnesota, abortion is now either banned or facing uncertain legal status, raising the stakes of Minnesota’s 2022 gubernatorial election for the entire Upper Midwest.