Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance said today that Donald Trump will not support a national abortion ban if elected president and that he would veto such a bill if it were to reach his desk.
"I can absolutely guarantee that," Vance said on NBC, adding that Trump believes the issue should be decided by individual US states based on their cultures and unique political sensitivities.
"We don't want to have an ongoing federal conflict over this issue," said the Ohio senator, who reiterated that Trump would veto the abortion ban bill if passed by Congress.
Vance responded to accusations from Democrats during their national convention in Chicago that Trump's role in appointing Supreme Court justices overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in which the US Supreme Court recognized a woman's right to an abortion.
But the Trump campaign's efforts to neutralize an issue that Democrats hope will galvanize voters in the upcoming U.S. Representative elections also risks alienating supporters who oppose abortion rights.
Although Trump has repeatedly boasted of his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, he has chosen to defy warnings from Democrats that he would go one step further and ban abortion if he wins a second term.
"My administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights," Trump wrote on his "Truth Social" platform.
His comments drew criticism, including from the editor of conservative magazine National Review, who published an article titled "Trump's Abandonment of Pro-Lifers Is Complete."
Democrats responded to Trump with deep skepticism.
"American women are not stupid, and we will not trust the future of our daughters and grandmothers with two men who have spoken openly about blocking access to abortion for women across this country," said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
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