A Texas Republican has said women who have abortions should “absolutely” be punished and deserve to go to prison for having their pregnancy terminated.

Representative Ron Wright, who was elected in 2018, responds to questions about whether or not women who induce their own abortions should be punished with jail in a video released by abortion access advocacy group Reproaction.

The politician says: “Of course, because they just killed a baby”.

When the interviewer asks if he is concerned women could be sent to prison for having abortions, he says: “As far as I’m concerned, they committed murder”.

This comes after Texas proposed a law that would criminalise abortions and make it possible for women to receive the death penalty for having an abortion.

The legislation, which would criminalise both women who have abortions and doctors who carry them out, stipulates that state and local government officials should enforce the bill “regardless of any contrary federal law, executive order, or court decision”.

It would allow no exceptions for abortions in cases of rape, incest or when the health of the mother is at risk. But the bill appeared to have failed back in April and is currently pending in committee.