The wife of a Republican former Alabama gubernatorial candidate says she was shocked to find out her husband, who had campaigned against same sex marriage, has donated sperm to several lesbian women.

The New Zealand Herald reported Sunday that while volunteering for earthquake recovery in Christchurch, Bill Johnson had used the online pseudonym “chchbill” to find women who wanted to have babies.

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Johnson had been in communication with as many as nine women. Three are already pregnant and three others may have accepted sperm from him.

The paper said that the fertility medicine community was concerned because guidelines suggest that no man should donate sperm to more than three women to prevent accidental incest.

One of the pregnant lesbian women explained that Johnson had only told her and her partner about donating to one other woman.

“He was in a hurry,” she said of their initial meeting in a public place. “We were looking at December. He said ‘If you want it done, we’ll do it now.'”

The couple said Johnson was wearing no wedding ring, and told them that his current relationship status “was not an issue.”

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Johnson claimed that his wife knew he wanted to become a donor, but when ask if she knew he had gone through with the plan, he said, “She does now.”

“I am married to the most beautiful woman in the world,” he explained. “When I married her I knew we couldn’t have any more children. She had a hysterectomy 10 years ago.”

“There is nothing my wife would want to give me more in the world than a child of my own. … Reproduction and having children is as basic a human need as eating.”

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For her part, Johnson’s wife, Kathy, reacted with surprise.

“This is a really, really difficult time for our family,” the former Mrs. Alabama told the Alabama Press-Register. “I’m still in disbelief and very hurt, and our family has a lot of healing to do.”

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Identifying himself as a Christian conservative, Johnson made opposition to same sex marriage a key part of his platform during his 2010 run for Alabama governor. He finished fifth out of nine candidates in the primary.

Watch this video from Bill Johnson’s YouTube channel.

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Photo: BillJohnson.org

(H/T: Business Insider)