During Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance said he never supported a national ban on abortions.
Except, he did.
And he also espoused support for the idea of a federal response to keep women from traveling from states with restrictive abortion laws to ones that are more open.
CBS moderator Norah O’Donnell posed the question to Vance.
“In the past, you have supported a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks,” O’Donnell said. “In fact, you said if someone can’t support legislation like that, quote, ‘you are making the United States the most barbaric pro-abortion regime anywhere in the entire world.’ My question is, why have you changed your position?”
“First of all, I never supported a national ban,” Vance responded. “I did during, when I was running for Senate in 2022, talk about setting some minimum national standard.”
But in January 2022, when he was campaigning for the Senate, Vance did espouse banning abortion.
“I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally,” Vance said during an interview on the Very Fine People podcast. He said then that he had doubts that it could be accomplished.
“In this climate, short term, no,” he said.
The interview occurred several months before the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which upended Roe v. Wade’s protections of abortion rights.
The podcast moderators raised the specter that national laws might be needed to prevent women from traveling to other states for abortion in the future.
“I’m sympathetic to the view, OK,” Vance said. “Here’s the situation. Let’s say that Roe v. Wade is overruled. Ohio bans abortion… let’s say, in 2024. And then, every day (billionaire liberal philanthropist) George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately Black women to get them to go have abortions in California. And, of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity. That’s kind of creepy, right?
“If that happens, do you need some federal response to prevent it from happening because it’s really creepy,” Vance said.
“I’m pretty sympathetic to that, actually,” he said. “Hopefully we get to a point where Ohio bans abortion, and California and the Soroses of the world respect it.”
Once Roe was overturned, states were free to enact their own abortion laws that can differ greatly from other states. Former President Donald Trump, who has bragged about appointing justices to the Supreme Court that ultimately overturned Roe, has described that patchwork approach as “a beautiful thing to watch.”
On Tuesday, Vance said the 2023 vote in Ohio on Issue 1, a referendum that enshrined reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution, helped him refocus his thinking. The issue was supported by nearly 57% of voters.
“You know, one of the things that changed: In the state of Ohio, we had a referendum in 2023, and the people of Ohio voted overwhelmingly, by the way, against my position,” Vance said. “I think that what I learned from that … is that we’ve got to do a better job winning back people’s trust.”
Advocates for Ohio’s constitutional amendment argued they couldn’t trust Ohio’s lawmakers on reproductive rights after the GOP-dominated state legislature repeatedly adopted policies to limit access. The amendment established “an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion.” It also creates legal protections for anyone who assists a person with receiving reproductive medical treatment.
Vance said Tuesday that winning back trust on the issue is a step toward promoting pro-family policies and values.
“So many young women would love to have families. So many young women also see an unplanned pregnancy as something that’s going to destroy their livelihoods, destroy their education, destroy their relationships,” Vance said.
“We have got to earn people’s trust back,” he said. “And that’s why Donald Trump and I are committed to pursuing pro-family policies. Making childcare more accessible. Making fertility treatments more accessible.
“We’ve got to do a better job of that, and that’s what real leadership is,” he said.
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Cleveland.com is closely tracking JD Vance’s every move and the reactions he provokes, as he becomes the first Ohioan in 80 years to appear on a presidential ticket for either major party. The coverage of JD Vance aims to provide a daily snapshot of the buzz surrounding him, capturing what he says, what he does, and what others are saying about him.
