A prominent UK politician is facing criticism this week for comparing the number of abortion victims to the victims of the Holocaust.

Jim Wells, a Democratic Unionist MP and a pro-life advocate, defended unborn babies’ rights in an interview Wednesday with BBC Radio, Smallholder reports. His remarks were in reference to an “emergency” debate about Northern Ireland’s pro-life laws this week in the House of Commons.

Fueled by Ireland’s repeal of its pro-life Eighth Amendment in May, abortion activists now are pushing Northern Ireland to abandon its protections for unborn babies as well. Sections 58 and 59 of its Offenses Against the Person Act make it a crime to abort an unborn baby. If those sections would be repealed, there would be no protections whatsoever for unborn babies at any stage of pregnancy in Northern Ireland.

Wells described legalized abortion in England, Scotland and Wales as a “ghastly situation,” the Belfast Telegraph reports.

“9.2 million people have had their lives terminated through abortion in Britain since 1967, that is actually more than the number of lives murdered in concentration camps,” Wells said.

Later, Wells said his comparison specifically was about the numbers of lives lost, and he does not think women who have abortions are like the Nazis.

Here’s more from the report:

Host Stephen Nolan asked Mr Wells if it was fair comparison to draw with the Nazis. “I think the numbers are a fair comparison because these human beings have been killed,” the South Down MLA said. “I said yes in the sense that the number of human beings who have been killed in the rest of the UK far exceed the ghastly concentration camps of Germany.” “These are human beings, they are people who have been killed in the womb. I don’t support the killing of any human being and abortion has got completely out of control in the United Kingdom. Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com “200,000 human beings are killed each year. I believe the child in the womb is a person, a person who’s got rights and a person who is given no choice when the decision is made to terminate their lives.” “98.8% of these people are healthy normal babies.”

Pro-abortion politicians, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, are urging Northern Ireland to strip away all protections for babies before birth. They held an “emergency” debate Wednesday where pro-abortion Labour MP Stella Creasy claimed legalized abortion is “about dignity” for women.

However, May and Karen Bradley, secretary of Northern Ireland, have said the people and politicians of Northern Ireland should be the ones to decide the matter, not the British parliament.

The pro-abortion proposal for Northern Ireland is extreme. According to Precious Life in Northern Ireland, it would allow unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to birth all across the UK.

“[T]he Offences Against The Person Act does place some restrictions on abortion, so repealing it would result in the UK having one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world,” the pro-life group said. “If repealed, there would be no law restricting or regulating abortion, and would allow unborn babies to killed for any reason, at any time during pregnancy, right up to the moment of birth.”