Axios: Vance Opposes Rape And Incest Exceptions For Abortion

May 10, 2022

Columbus, OH — J.D. Vance’s extreme views on abortion keep making national news. A new report in Axios highlights how Vance’s views are even out of step with Donald Trump, who favored exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.

“J.D. Vance is so far out of the mainstream that he believes Ohio women – even survivors of rape and incest – should not be free to make decisions about their own reproductive health care,” said Michael Beyer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Axios: These GOP Senate candidates oppose most exceptions to abortion bans

Alayna Treene

May 8, 2022

A series of Republican candidates running in crucial Senate battlegrounds hold strict anti-abortion views — including opposing the procedure even in cases of rape and incest.
Why it matters: The views of these GOP front–runners go far beyond what Republicans have traditionally embraced: exceptions for rape, incest and the life of a mother. If elected, these candidates — from J.D. Vance in Ohio to Herschel Walker in Georgia — would push the party further right.
Between the lines: Even former President Trump, whose anti-abortion rights bonafides were a key component of his 2016 and 2020 platforms, favored exceptions to abortion bans.
In 2019, he tweeted: “As most people know, and for those who would like to know, I am strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions — Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother — the same position taken by Ronald Reagan.”
The leaked draft signaling the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn Roe v. Wade has thrust abortion into the forefront of the midterm elections.
The current candidates’ views are in line with a series of abortion bans recently enacted at the state level in places like Ohio, Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida and Texas.

The big picture: The state laws and positions held by the Senate candidates have spurred new questions about whether Republicans — if they regain the majority in the House or Senate — will try to pass a federal abortion ban.

Such a measure wouldn’t be signed into law while President Biden is in office but would tee up future legislation for when a Republican is back in the White House.

J.D. Vance, the Trump-endorsed author of “Hillbilly Elegy” who was victorious in a crowded Republican primary last week, told Spectrum News he doesn’t think rape and incest exceptions are necessary.

Vance said, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” adding, “The question to me is really about the baby.”
“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, even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society,” Vance said.

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