Pro-life advocacy groups are backing Ohio Senator JD Vance, whom former President Donald Trump selected as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election, despite his recent support for abortion pill access.
Last week, Vance in an interview with "Meet the Press" said that he supports the abortion pill mifepristone "being accessible" after the Supreme Court ruled against pro-life advocates who sued to end its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
Vance's position on abortion pill access is apparently not dissuading support from pro-life groups who are hailing Trump's selection for vice president as "an exceptional selection."
"His courage in exposing the Democrats’ agenda of abortion for any reason, even in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month, helped propel him to a decisive victory in the 2022 midterm elections," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro Life America.
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"Vance’s hardscrabble upbringing informs his compassionate approach to this issue. He saw firsthand how the deck can be stacked against women facing unexpected pregnancies if they do not have the support and resources they need, even though most would rather choose life. His ability to compellingly share these stories on a national stage will surely be an asset," she said.
Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote said his organization "will proudly help the Trump-Vance ticket win in November.
"Vance represents a vision for the country that we have long embraced – a vision that proudly prioritizes American workers, families, and children. A vision that proudly puts the needs and interests of Americans first, while pushing back against the secular, technocratic, and globalist agendas of our elitist corporate and political class that despise common people and our common moral and religious way of life," he said.
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Vance, he said, "is solidly pro-life." "But it's important to note that he is not running for president himself and understands he must work with President Trump to both win the election and then govern in a way that actually achieves real results for the unborn, given the political realities of our moment," Bursch added.
Bursch also said that "it's premature to draw too broad a conclusion about Vance’s abortion advocacy" based solely on what he called "a left-leaning gotcha interview."
"We understand the public remains divided over this issue, yet mifeprestone deserves to be looked at closely given the reckless mishandling of its approval by the FDA, as well as its demonstrated harm to women. There is no question that these abortion drugs directly destroy an innocent human life. But they also have significant risks for the mother of the baby."
"We will continue to press both Trump and Vance to take seriously the harm these dangerous drugs pose to women and society at large," he said.
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But Vance didn't get unanimous approval from the pro-life activist community. Lila Rose of Live Action posted a statement on X saying, "Both J.D. Vance and President Trump support the legalization of abortion pills. This is heartbreaking and wrong."
A Fox News poll in May revealed that the issue of abortion access was one of three "deal breaker" issues for voters in 2024, along with border security and the economy.
At 15%, abortion edges out the economy and border security/immigration (each at 14%) as the biggest deal-breaker issue, according to that poll.
