JD Vance's abortion stance attacked by Biden campaign

Hours after former President Donald Trump announced he'd chosen Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, the Biden campaign was trying to draw attention to the senator's stance on abortion, calling him "an extreme anti-abortion politician" on a press call.

"He's proudly anti-choice and wants to take women back decades. He supports a nationwide ban on abortion, criticizes exceptions for rape and incest survivors, saying 'two wrongs don't make a right' and calling those circumstances 'inconvenient,'" President Biden's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said.

O'Malley Dillon seemed to be referring to a radio interview Vance gave to Spectrum News 1 in Columbus, Ohio, in 2021. 

"I think two wrongs don't make a right. At the end of day, we are talking about an unborn baby," he said. "It's not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term. It's whether a child should be allowed to live."

Host Curtis Jackson asked Vance about whether there should be exceptions for rape or incest. 

"Look, I think two wrongs don't make a right. At the end of day, we are talking about an unborn baby," Vance said. "What kind of society do we want to have? A society that looks at unborn babies as inconveniences to be discarded?"

The campaign also released a new ad, its first mentioning Vance by name. In the spot, a young Kentucky woman, Hadley Duvall, talks about being raped and impregnated at the age of 12 by her stepfather. Duvall said that when she found out she was pregnant, she knew she had options.

"If Roe v. Wade would've been overturned, I wouldn't have heard that, and then it had me thinking there is someone who doesn't get to hear that now," she said, adding, "Trump and JD Vance don't care about women. They don't care about girls in this situation."

The campaign is making a seven-figure investment in running it, on programming including the WNBA All Star game, CBS News' "60 Minutes," "The Bachelor," and more.

Vice President Kamala Harris also criticized Vance on IVF in her first campaign appearance since his selection as running mate was announced. 

"Understand, this is a fellow who — in the United States Senate — participated in blocking protections for IVF, this is an individual who has made every indication that he is for a national abortion ban," Harris said on Wednesday at a campaign stop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. 

Abortion has been a winning issue for Democrats in past elections since the fall of Roe, and with multiple ballot measures in various states this November, it could have a sizable impact on the presidential election. 

It's been one of the main themes of Mr. Biden's reelection bid. His campaign often blames former President Donald Trump for restrictive statewide abortion bans because he nominated the Supreme Court justices whothat upended the federal right to an abortion on the bench.

Vance, whose meteoric rise in politics started after his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" became a bestselling book and movie, has said he's 100% pro-life, and ending abortion access was one of the issues highlighted on his campaign website. He has expressed support for a national abortion ban and in an audio clip shared by the Biden campaign on X, he is heard comparing slavery and abortion. The clip, however, did not include the full quote. 

"There's something comparable between abortion and slavery, and that while the people who obviously suffer the most are those subjected to it, I think it has this morally distorting effect on the entire society," Vance said in a 2022 interview. 

In a 2022 debate with his opponent in the Senate race, former Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, Vance said he has always believed in reasonable exceptions for abortion. 

The Ohio native was also a vocal opponent of the abortion rights ballot measure in the Buckeye state, Issue 1, last November. When it was approved, Vance called it a "gut punch" and called for giving voters a "choice between abortion restrictions very early in pregnancy with exceptions, or the pro-choice position, and the pro-life view has a fighting chance."

For his part, Vance has accused Democrats of twisting his words relating to abortion. And after securing the second spot on the GOP presidential ticket, he has aligned his outlook on abortion with Trump's more recent public comments. 

"I am pro-life. I want to save as many babies as possible," he told CBS News' "Face the Nation" in May. "And sure, I think it's totally reasonable to say that late-term abortions should not happen, with reasonable exceptions. But I think Trump's approach here is trying to settle a very tough issue and actually empower the American people to decide it for themselves."

As the GOP vice presidential nominee, Vance is aligning his views with Trump's.

"My view is that Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party and his views on abortion are going to be the views that dominate his party and drive this party forward," Vance said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, his first as the VP pick. "You have to believe in reasonable exceptions because that's where the American people are, and you've got to let individual states make this decision. Alabama is going to make a different decision in California."

Vance has not replied to a request for comment. The Trump campaign has also not yet responded. 

In:
• JD Vance
• Joe Biden
• Kamala Harris
• Donald Trump
• Abortion

Shawna Mizelle

Shawna Mizelle is a 2024 campaign reporter for CBS News.

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