Republican running in swing district busted saying he supports '100 percent ban' on abortion

After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, swing voters across the United States have shown multiple times that they are opposed to strict bans on abortion rights.

Now the Washington Post has obtained two recordings of Republican candidate John Stirrup, who is running to be a state delegate in a swing county in northern Virginia, saying he backs a total ban on abortions.

In the first recording, which was made in May this year, Stirrup said that "I would support a 100 percent ban" on abortion.

In the second one, made in June, Stirrup said that he'd "like to see, you know, total ban" on abortions.

When contacted by the Washington Post about this, Stirrup argued that he would not be pushing for total abortion bans as a state delegate and would instead look for a compromise.

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"I’m a practicing Catholic who believes in protecting life,” Stirrup told the paper. “While there are differing opinions on this issue, I believe we can bring Virginians together around a consensus position to protect life at 15 weeks — when an unborn child can feel pain — with reasonable exceptions after that point for rape, incest, and life of the mother. This is a far more reasonable position than Democrats have staked out, which is one of no limits whatsoever at any time.”

That said, on the recording obtained by the Post, Stirrup suggests that a 15-week ban would only be a starting point rather than an end goal.

"We have the craziest, most liberal abortion laws in the world," he said at one point. "I mean, like, same as North Korea and China, and it’s just, you know, we’re barbarian."