Conservative U.S. Rep. Steve King wondered aloud on Wednesday whether the human race would still exist without rape and incest, as he explained his anti-abortion position to an audience in his home state of Iowa, local media reported.

King, a Republican who is staunchly opposed to abortion, made his remarks to 50 members of the Westside Conservative Club during the breakfast event in Urbandale, the Des Moines Register reported.

"What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?" King said in a video of the event posted on the newspaper's website.