Vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz spent 10 minutes debating abortion on Tuesday night in what is likely to be the only time the pair faces off in the 2024 race.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, abortion has overtaken the economy as the single most important issue for women younger than 45 in this year’s election, according to the New York Times.
And while Walz shared the devastating stories of women who have been impacted by bans in certain states, Vance appeared to try to re-write his stance with a number of false claims and misleading statements about abortion care.
During the debate, Vance falsely claimed that he “never supported a national abortion ban” but instead supported “some minimum national standard.”
However, in 2022 when he was running for the Senate, Vance told the Very Fine People podcast he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.”
He also said he was “sympathetic” to the idea that a national ban was necessary to stop women from traveling across different states for abortion care.
That same year, he also supported Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposal to impose a national ban on abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy.
When he was asked during a 2022 debate whether he would support Graham’s bill, Vance said: “I think it’s totally reasonable to say you cannot abort a baby, especially for elective reasons, after 15 weeks of gestation.”
While his running mate was sparring with Walz on abortion rights, Donald Trump waded in with a running commentary live on Truth Social.
After refusing multiple times to say whether or not he would veto a federal abortion ban if it landed on his desk during a potential second term, Trump claimed on Tuesday night: “Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters (The will of the people!).”
During the September 10 debate against Kamala Harris, Trump refused to say whether he would veto a national ban. He said: “I’m not in favor of an abortion ban, but it doesn’t matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states. I wouldn’t have to.”
Trump nominated three justices to the Supreme Court who voted to overturn Roe v Wade, which revoked a constitutional right to abortion care and effectively gave individual states the ability to legislate abortion care. Trump and Vance have repeatedly agreed that states, not the federal government, should make those decisions.
On Tuesday night, Vance — as he praised the rights of states to make their own decisions on abortion — falsely claimed Walz signed a statute into law in Minnesota meaning that “the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion.”
This is also incorrect.
