CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Controversial comments about rape and pregnancy from Yesli Vega are already igniting what promised to be a heated race in the Seventh Congressional District of Virginia.

On Tuesday, two audio recordings of Vega came out. In them, she raised questions about whether or not a rape can result in pregnancy.

Both candidates in the Seventh District race and the University of Virginia Center for Politics weighed in for some analysis.

Just four days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Axios released the recordings of Vega downplaying the possibility of pregnancy after rape-related sexual violence.

"I became a police officer in 2011,” Vega said. “I've worked on cases where as a result of rape, the young woman became pregnant."

In a second recording, she was talking to someone at a campaign stop.

"It wouldn't surprise me,” she said. “Because it's not something that's happening organically. You're forcing it. The individual, the male, is doing it as quickly-- it's not like, you know -- and so I can see why there is truth to that. It's unfortunate."

Representative Abigail Spanberger immediately hopped on Twitter to criticize her opponent.

"My response to these comments is that they are very disrespectful to victims of sexual violence, victims of rape,” Spanberger said. “It's just unthinkable that someone who is attempting as a candidate for a position of public trust."

She went on to say the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says millions of women will become pregnant through acts of sexual violence.

"Abigail Spanberger and the radical left would rather lie and twist the truth than explain her extreme support for on-demand taxpayer-funded abortions, even up to the moment of birth," responded Vega.

J. Miles Coleman from the UVA Center for Politics is looking at this to see if it could have any impact on the race this fall.

"I think that kind of goes with the impression that, you know, right out of the gate, her campaign is sort of on the defensive," he said.

Coleman goes on to say Vega needs to begin to make a good impression on the general electorate, and one way she can do so is by running ads and steering clear of mentioning abortion.

Vega's campaign has also embraced former President Donald Trump's message. When asked if Tuesday's hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021 would hurt Vega, Coleman said that while the hearing is interesting, if voters are paying $4.50 a gallon for gas, it won't matter much.