Indiana Republican Micah Beckwith compared abortion to slavery and the Holocaust

Micah Beckwith, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Indiana, has taken extreme anti-abortion positions, including comparing abortion to the Holocaust.

Beckwith is a pastor at Life Church in Noblesville, Indiana, and co-host of the ‘Jesus, Sex and Politics’ podcast. Despite Sen. Mike Braun, the Republican candidate for governor, endorsing another candidate, delegates at the Indiana GOP convention in June nominated Beckwith for lieutenant governor.

Between 2019 and 2022, Beckwith made several Facebook posts describing abortion as murder and comparing it to various historical atrocities. Abortion is banned in Indiana, except in cases of fatal fetal abnormalities or for survivors of rape and incest in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. A poll from June found 64% of Hoosiers believe these prohibitions are too restrictive.

“Without a doubt, abortion is one of the greatest evils this world has ever seen,” Beckwith wrote on Facebook in June 2019. “We will overturn Roe v. Wade and end the brutal murder of the most innocent and precious among us!”

In October 2019, New York state passed the Reproductive Health Act, which codified Roe v. Wade into state law and expanded abortion access for individuals facing life-threatening complications. Beckwith responded by sharing a photo of Nazi concentration camp guards alongside a photo of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signing the bill into law.”

“No difference,” Beckwith wrote. “The devil is still in the business of deceiving foolish people that some lives are less than human. In 1944 Jews were less than human. Today infants are less than human.”

In 2020, Beckwith ran for U.S. Congress in Indiana’s fifth district but failed to advance past the Republican primary. In that race, Beckwith was endorsed by Indiana Right to Life, a far-right group that advocates for total abortion bans.

“Too many politicians today are willing to compromise on the lives of the unborn — not me,” Beckwith wrote in a May 2020 Facebook post touting the endorsement. “I am a conservative outsider, not beholden to the way its always been done. In Congress, I’ll defund Planned Parenthood once and for all, not only in Indiana, but across the country.”

Earlier that year, Democrats in the U.S. Senate blocked the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would have required doctors to provide medical care to infants supposedly ‘born alive’ after an attempted abortion. Physicians’ groups assert this scenario does not occur and that the bill is a ruse to restrict abortion rights. Nevertheless, Beckwith took to Facebook to criticize Democrats for opposing the legislation.

“How in the world have we’ve become a nation where INFANTICIDE is now being defended by 41 US Senators (all Democrat) who were able to block a bill that would have protected precious babies born alive after an abortion?!” Beckwith wrote.

In 2022, Beckwith compared abortion to slavery and those working to ban it to abolitionists.

“Abortion is no different than Slavery,” Beckwith wrote. “They each devalue another human life. Like the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce, it is now our turn to speak out against the greatest injustice of our day. Let’s end abortion! “

Beckwith’s current campaign website makes no reference to abortion or women’s health care.

The Democratic candidate for Governor of Indiana is former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick. The Democratic lieutenant governor candidate is former state Rep. Terry Goodin.

A Beckwith campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.