Kristen Walker Hatten has embraced white nationalism in recent years: Kristen Walker Hatten/Medium

A prominent anti-abortion group is distancing itself from one of its former leaders after it emerged that she embraced white nationalism.

Kristen Walker Hatten has spoken at universities across the US to promote the idea mainstream feminism should oppose abortion rights.

Until recently, she was vice-president of New Wave Feminists, a group which brands itself as a progressive organisation supporting the foetus as “the most vulnerable member of the human family”, and a contributor for the Dallas Morning News.

But NWF said it threw Ms Hatten out shortly after Donald Trump became president, when it was clear she was becoming a vocal supporter of the alt-right.

Ms Hatten began to identify as an “ethnonationalist” on Twitter and shared a number of white supremacist messages, including one praising Russia for its “white identity”.

She told the Huffington Post website, which originally reported the story, that she was “racist by today’s standards” but denied being a white supremacist.

“I do see that Europe and the US are becoming... well, not European,” she said. “This concerns me not because I hate anyone, but for the same reason Japan would be concerned if the Japanese were becoming a minority in Japan.

“No people should be excited to become a minority in their homeland. It is contrary to human nature. I wouldn’t expect it of any race and I don’t think it should be expected of whites.”

Founder and president of New Wave Feminists, Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, told the website that she expelled Ms Hatten as she “didn’t want to give this toxic garbage any more of a platform”.

Her former friend's views appeared to be directly influenced by Mr Trump’s election win, Ms Herndon-De La Rosa said, despite the fact she had once described the billionaire as “creepy, gross and tacky”.

The Dallas Morning News has said it will no longer publish anything written by Ms Hatten.