Russell Pearce, vice chairperson of the Arizona Republican Party, stepped down from his position after his comments about birth control stirred controversy among both Democrats and Republicans.

Pearce, a former state senator, released the controversial comments over a radio talk show. Many of his critics took his statement as an advocacy for forced sterilization and demanded his immediate resignation, according to Yahoo! News.

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 "You put me in charge of Medicaid," Pearce began. "The first thing I'd do is get Norplant, birth-control implants, or tubal ligations."

In a statement released Saturday, Arizona Democratic Party executive director DJ Quinlan called Pearce's apparent support for forced sterilization as "unacceptable."

Martha McSally, a Republican candidate in the state's 2^nd Congressional District, posted a tweet calling Pearce's comments "hateful" and "insulting" to females. She then called for his immediate removal from office.

Pearce defended himself by saying the comments were written by another person, but he failed to attribute the words to the author. When he announced his resignation, he said he does not want the controversy to distract people from the upcoming elections, the report stated.

The former Arizona senator explained that the media and his rival party used his "mistake" to inflict damage upon Republican candidates. Pearce, however, vowed to continue upholding his beliefs and fight for the country's principles.

This is not the first time the Republican vice chairman came under the spotlight for making controversial comments. After the deadly Colorado theater massacre in 2012, he lambasted moviegoers for failing to prevent suspect James Holmes from committing a crime which left 12 people dead and 58 injured.

In his post on Facebook, the Republican said someone could have stopped Holmes from killing a lot of people. Pearce blamed the people in the theater for not having enough courage to save others, Yahoo! News said.

TagsRussell Pearce, birth control, resignation, Arizona Republican Party, controversial comments