Leaked audio reveals Dr. Oz saying that abortion is murder 'at any stage of pregnancy'

Trump-backed Senate candidate Mehmet Oz earlier this year expressed an extreme view on abortion by declaring he believes it to be murder if it occurs at any point during a woman's pregnancy.

In a leaked audio recording obtained by The Daily Beast, Oz said at a campaign event this past May that so-called "heartbeat" laws that ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected do not go far enough in restricting a woman's access to reproductive health care.

"If life starts at conception why do you care what age the heart starts beating at?" he asked rhetorically. "It’s, you know, it’s still murder, if you were to terminate a child whether their heart’s beating or not.”

Oz also made clear that he believes life begins at conception, which means he also endorses the idea that aborting a fetus even in the first week of pregnancy should be considered murder.

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The Daily Beast report notes that Oz has been very hard to pin down on abortion rights, as he expressed views generally in favor of a woman's right to choose before he decided to run for Senate as a right-wing Republican.

Democratic rival John Fetterman has made being in favor of abortion rights a key plank of his campaign and he has repeatedly hammered Oz for being willing to completely outlaw abortion.