ROUNDUP: J.D. Vance Faces Backlash For Comparing Abortion To Slavery

July 28, 2022

Columbus, OH – Ohioans are reading and watching J.D. Vance’s radical views on the freedom to choose, and hearing from Black leaders holding him accountable for comparing abortion to slavery.

When asked to explain his extreme comments, Statehouse News Bureau’s Jo Ingles reported: “Vance has not returned calls for comment. In fact, Vance isn’t speaking out in public forums in Ohio much these days.”

Read more below:
WCMH: JD Vance Compares Abortion To Slavery
July 25, 2022

JENNIFER BULLOCK, NBC4 ANCHOR: It has been just over a month since Roe v. Wade was overturned and the Ohio Democratic Party is calling out Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance for comparing abortion to slavery.

BRAD JOHANSEN, NBC4 ANCHOR: The ODP says that Vance has made extreme and out-of-touch comments cheering on the largest rollback of women’s rights in a half century. Party leaders say that Vance’s comments were dangerous and out of bounds.

Statehouse News Bureau: Black Ohio Democratic lawmakers criticize Vance over comments about abortion
Jo Ingles
July 25, 2022

Some Democratic members of Ohio’s Black Legislative Caucus are blasting Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance for comments he’s made about abortion recently.
In a press conference organized by the Ohio Democratic Party (ODP), the Black state lawmakers took issue with Vance for calling rape “inconvenient” and comparing abortion to slavery.
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) said the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned the right to legal abortion nationwide, and Ohio’s new abortion ban that makes the practice illegal at the first signs of fetal heart activity, which usually happens around six weeks into a pregnancy, is taking a toll on Black women.
“We have seen a huge threat on the access to health care when it comes to women having abortions here within the state of Ohio,” Brent said. “As we look at this decision, we look at the ignorance that candidate J.D. Vance has decided to put out there comparing abortion to slavery…This person has decided to compare one to the two.”
Rep. Catherine Ingram (D-Cincinnati) said it’s appalling, especially when you consider Black women have higher maternal mortality rates, less access to health care and poorer health outcomes.
“The idea that he would talk about slavery and the disproportionate impact on Black females, how dare he?,” Ingram asked.
Vance is also coming under fire from Democrats for statements he’s made about divorce. This comes after Vice reported Vance said in a speech that Americans would be better off staying in unhappy and “even violent” marriages.
Vance has not returned calls for comment. In fact, Vance isn’t speaking out in public forums in Ohio much these days. He has been criticized by some Republicans for not being on the campaign trail enough this summer and for not raising enough political campaign money. But Vance is endorsed by Ohio Right to Life as well as most of the Ohio organizations that oppose abortion in most or all cases.

Ohio Capital Journal: Black state lawmakers take aim at Vance over comments likening abortion to slavery
Nick Evans
July 26, 2022

A month out from the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Ohio Democrats are doing their best to keep abortion on voters’ minds. The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus is criticizing Republican U.S. Senate nominee J.D. Vance over comments likening the impact of slavery to that of abortion.
In an interview with the Catholic Current last year, Vance emphasized the societal impact of abortion in describing his opposition to the procedure.
“There’s something comparable between abortion and slavery,” Vance said, “and that while the people who obviously suffer the most are those subjected to it, I think it has this morally distorting effect on the entire society.”
He went on to invoke Abraham Lincoln’s “I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master,” and opine that many people now see children as “inconveniences to be discarded instead of blessings to cherish.”
State Rep. Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland, called Vance’s comments “dangerous” and “out of bounds.”
“J.D. Vance’s disgusting views on abortion are an outrage and Ohioans are taking note,” he said.
Upchurch argued Vance owes Ohioans an apology. But Rep. Catherine Ingram, D-Cincinnati, doesn’t want to hear it.
“I don’t want his apology as a Black female here in the state of Ohio,” she said. “Looking at Black maternal health issues that we have, and how desperate the health care is, how desperate our housing is, and then you have the audacity to take away a decision that women can make for themselves?”
“How dare you insult Black women?” she added.
Vance’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Juanita Brent, D-Cleveland, who heads up the OLBC didn’t mince words about Vance’s comments.

The Root: J.D. Vance Compares Slavery to Abortion
Kalyn Womak
July 26, 2022

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, everyone’s been sharing their hot takes about abortion and whether women should have the right to do what they want with their bodies. In an interview with Catholic Current, Rep. Senate nominee J.D. Vance shared his take: that he thinks there’s something “comparable” between abortion and slavery.

“- while the people who obviously suffer the most are those subjected to it, I think it has this morally distorting effect on the entire society – I really think abortion has really done something very socially destructive to us as people in how we see the most vulnerable and the most dependent among us. I think that’s one of the under-appreciated facts about abortion. It’s really distorted our entire society,” said Vance in the interview.
This interview was back in October of 2021 but resurfaced just in time as Vance had won the Republican Senate primary in May, reports say. Members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus criticized his comments.

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