The political landscape is abuzz with speculation as past remarks on abortion by Senator J.
D. Vance, a Republican from Ohio, have resurfaced amidst rumors of his potential inclusion in former President Trump's 2024 ticket.
Vance, who was once a critic of Trump but has since become a staunch ally, found himself under fire from Democrats during his 2022 U.S. Senate campaign for comments that were deemed out of context by a fact-checker. These comments were brought back into the spotlight this week by the Drudge Report, a renowned news aggregator that once supported but later turned against Trump.
According to Fox News, in 2021, Vance defended a Texas law that prohibited most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. When Spectrum News in Columbus, Ohio, questioned whether he supported exceptions for cases of rape and incest, Vance disagreed with the premise of the question, stating, "two wrongs don't make a right."
"We are talking about an unborn baby. What kind of society do we want to have? A society that looks at unborn babies as inconveniences to be discarded? Its not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term, its whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that childs birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society," Vance said.
Vance further emphasized his stance, as reported by the Washington Post, "The question to me is really about the baby. We want women to have opportunities, we want women to have choices, but, above all, we want women and young boys in the womb to have a right to life."
During a 2022 Ohio Senate debate, Vance's opponent, Democrat Tim Ryan, accused him of labeling rape as "inconvenient." Ryan asserted, "Rape is not inconvenient. It's a significant tragedy, and he thinks we should have Ohio state law which says if you're raped or pregnant through incest, you should be forced to have the baby."
Vance retorted that he never referred to rape as "inconvenient," and accused Ryan of knowingly making a false statement. He clarified his pro-life stance, stating he supported "reasonable exceptions." He also expressed his support for Senator Lindsey Graham's proposed 15-week abortion ban, which included exceptions for rape, incest, and the mother's life.
PolitiFact, after reviewing Ryan's comments, concluded, "Vance did not directly say rape is inconvenient. But when he was asked whether laws should allow people to get abortions if they were victims of rape or incest, he suggested that society should not view a pregnancy or birth resulting from rape or incest as 'inconvenient.'"
Recently, a CNN fact-check criticized President Biden's campaign for misrepresenting Vance's past remarks praising the Heritage Foundation as an outright endorsement of "Project 2025," a comprehensive proposed policy document that has faced severe criticism from the Left, including a proposed national abortion ban.
Vance has been consistent in his stance on abortion, aligning more with Trump's viewpoint, such as supporting the idea of individual states determining their abortion laws following the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
"Donald Trump is the pragmatic leader here. He's saying most abortion policy is going to be decided by the states. We want to make it easier and more affordable for young women and parents to have families to begin with," Vance told "Meet the Press."
Vance also expressed his support for the Supreme Court's opinion on Americans having access to the abortion medication mifepristone.
Login