Matt Bevin told Kentucky station WHAS Thursday: "If you had been repeatedly sexually violated, as a small child, by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically."
In Virginia and Kentucky, activists on both sides of the abortion debate are working to elect candidates with the power to affect abortion policy at the state level.
The decision is a major victory for state employees, as well as for state Attorney General Andy Beshear as he runs to unseat Gov. Matt Bevin, who championed the controversial law.
In a year full of political outsiders, Republican Bevin is the first to make it into office. A businessman who had never held office, he has shocked the state's political establishment.
A Republican will be governor of Kentucky for only the second time in 40 years. Democrats blamed "Trump-mania." Conservatives helped block pot legalization in Ohio and repealed an LGBT law in Houston.
Kentucky has one of the best-run health exchanges in the country, Kynect. It's led to the second-biggest drop in uninsured nationwide. But if a GOP primary result holds up, its days could be numbered.