Bronx Pentecostal minister and New York State Senator Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx) compared abortion to the Holocaust Tuesday during a rant against a piece of pro-choice legislation.

According to The New York Observer, Diaz wrote in an email to his supporters that, "[Hitler] chose to send the Jews to Auschwitz," adding, "That was not their choice, that was Hitler’s choice. Murderers, assassins and criminals are pro-choice. They choose to put a gun to your head and take your life. That is not your choice. That is their choice.”

"What God says here is, that if you hurt a pregnant woman and she loses the baby you have to pay a penalty not because it was a blob of tissue that you killed, but because it was a life."

Etzion Neuer, deputy director of the New York Anti-Defamation League, told The New York Daily News that Diaz's invocation of Hitler in an abortion debate was "incredibly offensive" and marginalized the memories of the millions who perished in the Holocaust. Diaz "crosses the line when he uses Hitler or the Holocaust to make his point,” Neuer said.

Diaz's comments come as many of his fellow state Democrats are pushing to pass The Reproductive Health Act. The Village Voice explains what the Act is all about:

Right now, women in New York can only get late-term abortions if the pregnancy will likely kill them. The RHA will extend this right to cases where a woman's life or health is at risk, or where the fetus has a fatal medical issue. The measure would also put into law New Yorkers' right to contraception -- as well as their right not to chose birth control.

Of course, this isn't the first time Diaz has compared abortion to the Holocaust. In 2005, the Anti-Defamation League asked Diaz to apologize similar remarks.

Diaz made headlines last year for his strong opposition to gay marriage in New York.

CORRECTION: A headline elsewhere on this site referred to Diaz as a Republican; he is a Democrat.