Senator JD Vance has made headlines for espousing anti-abortion rhetoric but in an interview published on Saturday, he said he accepts, that as a consequence of states regulating abortion, people will travel to obtain one – but stopped short of giving his approval.
Vance has made it abundantly clear through his comments he, personally, disagrees with abortion. Democrats have seized on that, claiming Vance would push his personal views of abortion to obtain a federal ban or federal regulation of some sort.
Vance and his running mate, Donald Trump, have disputed that. In his interview with the New York Times, Vance reiterated that he fully accepts each state will create their own rules which in turn will make those seeking abortions in restrictive states travel to non-restrictive states.
“In fact, I accept that as the reality of the state-level, state-focused regime that President Trump and I are encouraging people to take, Vance said. “Am I OK with it? I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it.”
“I’m OK with the states making these decisions, even if they make decisions that JD Vance or Donald Trump might not make,” he added.
At the same time Vance sought to assure people he would “accept that as the reality”, he also condemned those who choose not to have children because of climate change, calling it “a very deranged idea.”
The Ohio Senator shared conflicting views of reproductive freedoms in his New York Times interview, both denouncing people who choose not to have children because of “political ideas” and saying he was not criticizing those who simply choose not to have children.
Vance said the movement to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to enact abortion restrictions was not taking “options away from women” but instead making it “easier” for young women to “choose life”.
Thirteen states have near-total abortion bans that force those seeking an abortion to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to seek the necessary medical care.
At least two women have died because of a state’s restrictive abortion laws. Hundreds of others have come forward sharing harrowing stories of physical, mental and emotional trauma as a result of being denied reproductive medical care.
But rather than focus on the negative consequences of the Supreme Court overturning Roe which allows states to outright ban or severely restrict abortion, Vance portrayed it as a positive development that will promote family – something he believes the U.S. has become anti.
The Ohio Senator even claimed his constituents’ choice to amend the Ohio Constitution to include a right to abortion was made as a result of “mistrust”. That amendment passed in 2023 with a 57 percent vote in favor of codifying abortion rights.