After a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) was asked about possibly defunding Planned Parenthood, an idea he wasn’t opposed to considering.
“On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood, look, I mean, our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late-term abortions,” Vance said in response to a reporter’s question on the matter. “That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around. It will remain a consistent view.”
Former President Donald Trump and Vance have continued to push the narrative that Democrat-led legislation would allow for late-term abortions and even the execution of babies after birth throughout their campaign.
Still, data shows that late-term abortions are rare, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2021, 93.5% of abortions were done at or before 13 weeks of gestation. Another 5.7% were done between 14 and 20 weeks, while 0.9% were performed at or beyond 21 weeks.
Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Vice President Harris, blasted the comments from Vance, saying “a second Trump term is too big a risk for American women and their families.”
“The only way to stop an unchecked Trump and his MAGA allies from ripping away freedoms from American women is to elect Vice President Harris, who will defend women’s access to health care and reproductive freedom,” Hitt told NBC News.
The remarks from Vance also come at a strange time for the Trump campaign when it comes to abortion.
While Democrats continue to insist that Trump would work to ban it at the federal level, his campaign says he believes it is a state’s rights issue, saying he would veto any federal abortion ban.
This move comes even though a chunk of Trump’s base supports a federal abortion ban and after he took credit for the Dobbs decision, which saw federal abortion protections removed with the overturning of Roe v Wade.
More recently, former First Lady Melania Trump revealed in her forthcoming memoir that she is an advocate for abortion, saying she believes it is a “fundamental principle.”
“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard. Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to these essential rights that all women possess from birth. Individual freedom. What does ‘my body, my choice’ really mean?” Melania Trump said in a video shared on social media.
The Trump campaign and Planned Parenthood have not commented on Vance’s remarks.