Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) has shifted how he speaks about abortion amid growing speculation that he may be former President Donald Trump’s running mate.
Like Trump, who is expected to announce his running mate by the end of the week, Vance has sought to portray himself as a moderate on the issue.
He previously praised the overturning of Roe v. Wade and supported Texas’ anti-abortion law, which allows no exceptions except when the mother’s life is at risk.
“Two wrongs don’t make one right,” he said in 2021 when asked whether abortion laws should allow exceptions for rape and incest.
When voters in his home state approved a constitutional amendment protecting abortion and other reproductive health care, Vance called it a “shock punch.”
But Vance has recently praised and aligned himself with Trump’s position that states should be able to make their own abortion laws, with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
In a July 7 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vance called Trump a “pragmatic leader” for his commitment to leaving it up to the states.
This is in contrast to his Senate campaign, where Vance said during a 2022 debate that he would be “totally fine with having a minimum national standard.”
In the same “Meet the Press” interview, Vance also said he supports the “availability” of mifepristone, despite many conservatives wanting to ban the drug.
“The Supreme Court has ruled that the American people should have access to that drug. Donald Trump supported that opinion and I support that opinion,” Vance said.
Vance was referring to Trump’s comments during last month’s presidential debate that he agreed with the Supreme Court’s opinion and would not block access to mifepristone if he were back in the Oval Office.
Last month, a court dismissed a challenge to the expanded access to mifepristone for lack of standing to sue, but the decision was procedural and leaves open the possibility that additional plaintiffs could sue in the future.
Vance’s shift from Trump critic to Trump supporter is emblematic of the Republican Party’s complicated relationship with the abortion issue as the party struggles to come together in the days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
“I think the entire Republican Party is adjusting its messaging in a post-Roe world,” said Mark Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist from Ohio.
Weaver said Vance plans to be Trump’s running mate, saying, “If Trump comes calling, J.D. Vance will be suiting up and ready to go.”
But as the party is still trying to figure out the best way to discuss abortion, Weaver said, “nothing is lost in this effort” if Vance isn’t selected.
Indeed, many in the Republican Party support Trump’s position, and the party’s official platform does not explicitly call for a nationwide abortion ban or for legislation to give equal rights to the unborn.
Instead, it assumes that the 14th Amendment already recognizes the personhood of the fetus and allows states to enact laws consistent with that.
The debate over fetal personhood has been particularly tricky for Republicans who are trying to reconcile support for access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the views of some Christian conservatives who say fertilized embryos, which are often discarded during the IVF process, should be treated as people.
Anti-abortion and religious groups said they saw the policy platform as being softened, but Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the other vice presidential candidate, defended the changes.
“Our policies need to reflect our candidates, and I think where our candidates stand is one basis of reality,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash.
Trump has been careful about tackling the abortion issue, as he and other Republicans seek to appease their base without losing moderate Republicans and independents.
President Trump has faced relentless political attacks from Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Trump appointed three justices whose votes helped overturn the landmark decision that protected access to abortion.
The former president said states should be given the power to enact individual abortion laws through state legislatures and voters, and called it a “beautiful thing to see” that some states have established a right to abortion while others have strict bans on abortion with no exceptions.
The president has criticized states he believes have gone too far in their abortion bans, such as Florida and Arizona, but as president, his administration has also threatened to cut federal funding to California unless it repeals its requirement that private health insurers cover the costs of abortions.
While President Trump has not made any explicit campaign promises on abortion, the issue has clearly become a focus as he considers his running mate.
Asked about North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as a possible candidate, President Trump told Fox News Radio on Wednesday that it was “a problem” that Governor Burgum signed a near-total abortion ban.
“I think Doug’s great, but he’s taken a very strong stance and the state, I don’t know if it’s Doug, but the state is, so it’s a problem,” Trump said.
Vance appears to have no such burden, and as one Ohio Democratic strategist put it, that’s by design.
“If you want to know what J.D. Vance thinks about anything, just ask Donald Trump,” said Jeff Rusnak, president of the Ohio-based R Strategy Group. “His position on reproductive rights has nothing to do with understanding where the population is or what voters believe. It’s about, ‘How do I appeal to Trump?'”
