According to JD Vance | Donald Trump Would Not Support a National Abortion Ban

(New York) Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said Donald Trump would not support a national abortion ban if elected president and would veto such a bill if it landed on his desk.

“I can absolutely commit to that,” Vance said when asked Meet the Pressto NBC, if he could commit that Mr. Trump would not impose such a ban. “Donald Trump’s view is that we want individual states, their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make those decisions because we don’t want a continuing federal conflict on this issue.”

The Ohio senator also insisted that Mr. Trump, the former president who is the Republican nominee this year, would veto such a bill if it passed Congress.

“What I’m saying is, if you don’t support this as president of the United States, you basically have to veto it,” he argued.

Mr Vance’s comments come after Democrats at their national convention in Chicago last week singled out Donald Trump for his role in appointing Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion in the United States and paving the way for bans and restrictions in Republican-led states.

While Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted about his role in overturning Roe, he has in recent days pushed back against warnings from Democrats that he would go even further to restrict access to abortion if he wins a second term.

“My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights,” he wrote Friday on his platform, Truth Social, appropriating language used by abortion rights activists and the left.

Wave of criticism

His comments sparked a wave of criticism from abortion advocates, including the editor of the conservative magazine National Reviewwho published an article entitled Trump’s Abandonment of Pro-Lifers Is CompleteMr Trump repeated his remarks hours later at an event in Las Vegas.

“I am very supportive of women’s reproductive rights. IVF [fécondation in vitro]very supportive. I mean, we’re leaders in this area. And I think people see that,” he told reporters.

Democrats responded to Mr. Trump with deep skepticism.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, brushed aside a question about why the former president would be “great” on reproductive rights.

“You have to ask him. I would say President Trump has been a very good president. [antiavortement] ” he told the show State of the Union from CNN.

The anti-abortion community, Mr. Graham detailed, “is organized around the welfare of the child, giving the mother options other than abortion.” The senator added that “that movement will continue after he leaves office.”

Donald Trump has often struggled to talk about abortion. Earlier this year, he struggled with his position on a federal abortion ban, at one point suggesting he would support a ban at about 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is in danger. He later settled on his current position: that restrictions should be left to the discretion of states.

Mr. Trump has not said how he plans to vote on an upcoming ballot measure on Florida’s six-week ban.

In an interview with CBS News earlier this week, the candidate said he had “no regrets” about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. But after months of confusing statements, he said he would not use a federal law known as Comstock Act to try to ban the distribution of drugs used as an alternative to surgical abortions. It’s something some of his allies have called for and J.D. Vance has supported in the past.

“We’ll discuss the details, but generally speaking, no,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that. It will be available and it is now. And as I know, the Supreme Court said, ‘Keep it up.’ I’m going to apply and agree with the Supreme Court, but basically, they said, keep it the way it is now.”

Abortion has been a powerful motivator for Democrats since the Roe decision in the summer of 2022, and the party expects it to continue to play a key role this year.