Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gestures in the course of the “National Rejoice Life Day Rally” commemorating the primary anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling within the Dobbs v Women’s Health Organization case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision, in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2023.Â
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Two Republican 2024 presidential hopefuls talked up their opposition to abortion on Sunday on the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, the choice that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Presidential candidate and former Vice President Mike Pence described last yr’s landmark decision as “a historic victory” that condemned Roe v. Wade to “the ash heap of history.”
Pence earlier this week called for all GOP candidates to commit to a nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks — but he said on Sunday that it was also essential to “stand with compassion.”
“With 62 million unborn lives lost, and nearly as many ladies who’ve endured the 2 generations under abortion, I feel we want to bring a message of grace, we want to bring a message of kindness,” Pence said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “That is how we will win hearts and minds. It is so rather more essential than politics to me, but I also think it is a winning issue.”
Pence said that a national 15-week limit would “align American law with a lot of the countries in Europe that literally ban abortion after 12 to fifteen weeks.”
His call for tighter restrictions come at the same time as a recent national NBC News poll found that 6-in-10 voters remain against the Supreme Court removing the national right to abortion. The poll included nearly 80% of female voters ages 18-49, two-thirds of suburban women, 60% of independents and a 3rd of Republican voters who disapprove, in accordance with NBC News.
Pence also said that he “strongly supports” Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s effort to carry up military promotions due to Defense Department policies on abortion, including a recent decision to reimburse costs for service members who travel to other states to acquire an abortion.
“We simply cannot have the federal government subsidizing abortion on this country directly or not directly, and that features the Pentagon,” Pence said.
One other guest on the Fox program, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), took issue with that comment. “We [Democrats] support Roe v. Wade,” Cardin said. “We thought that was established law. It was a longtime law for nearly 50 years. The Supreme Court decision was a radical decision that reversed the rights of ladies to make their very own health-care decisions.”
That right “should not be subservient to what state legislatures are doing,” Cardin said. “It is a personal decision made by women with the recommendation of their doctors and their families. And we do not think we should always try to inform women after they could make those decisions.”
But not less than one GOP contender said on Sunday that he is not more likely to sign on to Pence’s idea. Former Latest Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who announced his bid for president earlier this month, said that while he supports the choice in Dobbs, he’ll oppose the concept of a federal abortion ban until a “national consensus” develops on the problem.
“Conservatives like me, for the last 50 years, have been arguing that this is just not a federal issue. It is a state issue. It’s something that states should resolve. The Dobbs case one yr ago gave us the chance to let each state make this decision,” he told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“What I hope to see is that with each of the 50 states, but more importantly the people of every of the 50 states deciding this issue, we then could see a national consensus develop,” Christie said.
“If a national consensus develops, I don’t have any problem with the federal government stepping in and confirming that national consensus.”
