(NewsNation) — Comments made by Sen. JD Vance about abortion have resurfaced after the Ohio Republican was chosen as former President Donald Trump‘s running mate in the 2024 election.
Here’s a look at what he’s said.
What’s Vance’s stance on abortion?
During his time in political office, Vance has opposed abortion access and supported policies he argues would increase birth rates in the United States, such as making childbirth free and financially incentivizing couples to have children.
Vance declared himself “100% pro-life,” according to his 2022 campaign website for the Senate. As far as exceptions for rape and incest, Vance told The Washington Post in 2021, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
While Vance ran for Senate in 2022 on a staunchly anti-abortion platform, he has somewhat shifted his public stance on the issue amid speculation he would become Trump’s vice president pick.
His policy has appeared to change in recent months, with the lawmaker telling CNN in December 2023 that the Republican Party must “accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. They just don’t. And I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth.”
In a July 7 interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Vance said he agreed with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling dismissing a case challenging the availability of mifepristone, an abortion drug.
“I think it’s important to say that we need to have a conversation in our country about what our abortion policy should be,” he said. “Donald Trump is the pragmatic leader here.”
Biden’s stance on abortion misrepresented
In his first interview since being named to the ticket, Vance told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he stands with Trump’s position that abortion rights should be left to the states.
“It is reasonable to let voters in states make those decisions,” Vance said. “Doesn’t mean we have to agree with it, but you have to have some respect for the political process.”
Vance also contrasted Trump’s position on abortion with President Joe Biden‘s stance.
“Donald Trump is running against a Joe Biden president who wants taxpayer-funded abortions up until the moment of birth,” Vance said.
However, The Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact highlighted Vance’s claims as false and misrepresent how rarely late-term abortions are performed.
About 91% of U.S. abortions occur in the first trimester, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 1% occur after 21 weeks, and less than 1% take place in the third trimester, typically involving emergencies like fatal fetal anomalies or life-threatening conditions for pregnant women.
Biden has expressed support for Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, seeking federally protected abortion access following its overturning in June 2022.
Vance says his abortion remarks were ‘twisted’
In a 2021 interview, Vance was asked whether laws should allow women to get abortions if they were victims of rape or incest. He responded that society should not view a pregnancy or birth resulting from rape or incest as “inconvenient.”
“It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, it’s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society. The question really, to me, is about the baby,” Vance said in the interview.
During his interview with Hannity this week, Vance also claimed that his remarks about abortion exemptions were “twisted.”
“There was this article that said, ‘Oh, J.D. Vance said it’s ‘inconvenient,'” Hannity noted.
“The Democrats have completely twisted my words. What I did say is that we sometimes in this society see babies as inconveniences, and I absolutely want us to change that,” Vance explained.
Abortion is a key issue in the 2024 election
Now more than ever, abortion policy is paramount to a candidate’s success. A record-high 32% of American voters would only cast a ballot for a candidate that shares their same stance on abortion, a Gallup poll found.
Biden and Trump tackled the issue in the first presidential debate since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Trump has faced relentless political attacks from Democrats on the subject. Trump appointed three of the justices whose votes triggered the overturning of the landmark ruling that had protected abortion access.
During his presidency, Biden has continually shared support for abortion and contraceptive access, establishing the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, signing an executive order that bolsters state compliance with federal laws and defending FDA approval of abortion medication.
The sitting president at the time of the Dobbs decision, Biden, called the overturning of Roe v. Wade “extreme.”
Most recently, Biden pledged to continue the fight for reproductive care and contraception, claiming he would urge Congress to restore the rights Roe v. Wade protected.
NewsNation’s Urja Sinha, Damita Menezes and Anna Kutz and The Hill contributed to this report.
