A screenshot of Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Garrett Soldano on "Face the Facts" with April Moss. (Source: "Face the Facts" on Rumble)

Garrett Soldano, a top candidate in Michigan’s GOP gubernatorial primary, said on a podcast earlier this month that life begins “when DNA is created,” an even more radical anti-abortion stance than usual for Republicans.

While speaking with April Moss on her “Face the Facts” podcast on Jan. 19, Soldano advocated for banning most abortions in Michigan as soon as a fetus develops DNA unique from its mother. A 1995 study found that unique fetal DNA is found at least seven weeks after conception, if not as early as four weeks.

“When DNA is created, it has a place at the table for life,” Soldano said. “And so we must defend life at all instances in that matter. DNA’s created, then we defend it.”

While the concept of life beginning at conception is a popular anti-abortion viewpoint, Soldano’s stance on banning abortions when unique DNA is found is still radical for a Republican. Numerous federal and state courts have struck down state “heartbeat bills” in the last decade, including ones from North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio. Those bills would ban abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detected; this can happen as early as six weeks, although its existence is debated by doctors.

“What we’re really detecting is a grouping of cells that are initiating some electrical activity,” Dr. Jennifer Kerns, an OB-GYN professor at the University of California, San Francisco, told NPR last September. “In no way is this detecting a functional cardiovascular system or a functional heart.”

Soldano also mentioned while there might be a path for rape survivors to get an abortion, he would prefer a culture that encourages them to deliver the child instead. He cited a mentor’s mother having the “courage” to deliver the mentor even though he was conceived through a gang rape as an example of a positive outcome of a rape survivor delivering a child to term.

“How about we start inspiring women in the culture to let them understand and know how heroic they are and how unbelievable they are that God put them in this moment, and they don’t know that little baby inside them may be the next president. Maybe the next person that changes humanity may get us out of the situation, maybe in the future.” Soldano said. “We don’t know that. That is what we must do is start to create that culture.”

The chiropractor and small business owner from southwest Michigan puts the issue of abortion access as one of his highest campaign issues. He said in a 2021 campaign video that it’s “not a political issue” because it’s “bigger than politics” and a matter of “right and wrong.” Soldano’s website says if he’s elected in November, he will be a pro-life governor and “push back against the abortion lobby in Lansing and President Biden’s radical anti-life agenda.”

Incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is running for reelection, currently has a 56% approval rating in the state, according to a poll released earlier this month by WDIV and Detroit news. The same poll also found that Whitmer would defeat Soldano by over 16 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup; 49.6% of voters prefer Whitmer compared to 33.2% for Soldano, with 16.7% of voters undecided. Whitmer’s slimmest margin in head-to-hand matchups with GOP primary candidates is a nine-point margin against former Detroit Police Department chief James Craig (48.6% preferring Whitmer and 39.1% preferring Craig).

Follow Austin on Twitter @AuLinfante