(Oregon Right to Life) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday chose Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, the first day of the Republican National Convention.
A self-professed pro-life advocate who earned a name for himself with his bestselling 2016 memoir HIllbilly Elegy, 39-year-old Vance adamantly opposed the 2023 Ohio ballot initiative that enshrined a “right” to abortion into the state constitution. For his pro-life record during his brief two years in the Senate, he earned an A+ rating from national pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
RELATED: Pro-Choice Groups in Early Stages of Attempt to Enshrine Abortion in Oregon Constitution
Vance said in a 2022 Ohio Senate debate that he has always identified with the pro-life platform. He also called for changes to help young women dealing with unsupported pregnancies.
“I am pro-life. I’ve always been pro-life,” he said. “I saw a lot of young women have abortions when I was growing up. And one of the things that always struck me is it felt like a lot of those young women didn’t have options. They felt like they didn’t have the health care that they needed. We’ve got to fix that.”
During the debate, Vance acknowledged that states will make different decisions concerning abortion but spoke in favor of a “minimum national standard” to protect the unborn. He also blasted laws permitting the elective abortions of “fully formed babies who can feel pain.”
“No civilized country in the world allows elective abortion that late in pregnancy,” he said. “I don’t think the United States should be an exception.”
The Ohio senator has drawn criticism from pro-life advocates, however, for recent comments concerning the abortion drug mifepristone. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to reject a case brought by pro-life physicians who argued for a restoration of regulatory safeguards on the drug, the first in the chemical abortion regimen, Vance told NBC he supported the Court’s ruling.
Asked specifically by NBC host Kristen Welker whether he believed mifepristone should continue to be accessible in the U.S., Vance said, “Yes, Kristen, I do.”
Trump has similarly stated that he supported the Court’s decision.
Live Action founder and president Lila Rose has called on Vance and Trump to “change their positions and to become fighters for the most innocent among us.”
Despite sparking opposition from pro-life advocates for his remarks concerning mifepristone, however, Vance’s pro-life record in the Senate and consistent opposition to the radically pro-abortion agenda of the Biden administration have earned him high praise from national pro-life organizations who have celebrated Trump’s decision to choose him as his running mate.
“J.D. Vance is an exceptional selection as President Trump’s running mate. 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,” SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a Monday press release. “Vance’s hardscrabble upbringing informs his compassionate approach to this issue. His ability to compellingly share these stories on a national stage will surely be an asset.”
“With approximately 750,000 babies in states like California and New York still lacking basic protections, we need champions whose boldness will not waver,” Dannenfelser said.
RELATED: What Trump and Biden Had to Say About Abortion in the First Presidential Debate
National Right to Life (NRLC) similarly praised Trump’s VP pick as an “excellent choice.”
“National Right to Life believes Senator Vance is an excellent choice for vice president,” NRLC president Carol Tobias said in a Monday statement. “He is committed to promoting the right to life and protecting both women and their preborn children.”
In its press release, NRLC highlighted Vance’s opposition to the Biden administration’s “push for a sweeping federal law allowing unlimited abortion for any reason until birth.” The group also pointed out Vance’s belief that “tax dollars should not be used to pay for elective abortions at home or abroad…”
In addition, NRLC hailed Vance’s support for “community-based pregnancy help centers” to support “pregnant women and families in need.”
Meanwhile, Vance’s selection wasn’t the only major bit of news to come out of the Republican National Convention on Monday, just two days after an assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally rattled the nation.
During the first day of the convention, Trump was officially nominated as the Republican candidate for the presidency. The delegates also voted to approve the new, scaled-down GOP Platform that reframes the party’s stance on abortion.
READ: RNC Committee Approves Draft Language for GOP Platform
Notably absent from the new document, however, is the type of explicit pro-life language found in the 2016 GOP platform, including the assertion that “the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.” Additionally, unlike the 2016 platform, the new document does not call for “a human life amendment to the Constitution.”
The changes have drawn outcry from some pro-life advocates. However, leaders in the pro-life movement have said the new platform still reflects a pro-life party, one that continues to represent a stark difference from the priorities of the Biden administration.
“The mission of the pro-life movement, for the next four months, must be to defeat the Biden-Harris extreme abortion agenda,” SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement concerning the new platform last week.
Oregon Right to Life believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion ends the life of a genetically distinct, growing human being. We oppose abortion at any point of gestation. In rare cases, a mother may have a life threatening condition in which medical procedures intended to treat the condition of the mother may result in the unintended death of her preborn baby. At the same time, ORTL recognizes that modern medical practice has and will continue to increase the ability to save both the life of the mother and the baby. Read this and all of our position statements here.
