JD Vance feels travelling for abortion ‘kind of creepy’, calls for an urgent ‘federal response’
JD Vance, the Ohio senator and Donald Trump’s running mate, has drawn attention for promoting a baseless rightwing conspiracy in 2022, alleging that George Soros-funded planes were transporting Black women across state lines for abortions, and he wants an urgent “federal response” on this.
In a January 2022 resurfaced podcast, Vance speculated about a post-Roe America, saying, “Every day George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately Black women to get them to go have abortions in California. And, of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity – uh, that’s kind of creepy.”
The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and Vance’s statements echo a common anti-abortion talking point accusing abortion providers of targeting people of colour.
While Black women did seek abortions at higher rates before Roe’s fall, public health experts attribute this to systemic factors, such as limited access to contraception and the disproportionate harm caused by abortion bans to Black women.
Vance continued, “If that happens, do you need some federal response to prevent it from happening? Because it’s really creepy. And I’m pretty sympathetic to that actually. So, you know, hopefully we get to a point where Ohio bans abortion in California and the Soroses of the world respect it.”
Kamala Harris’s campaign calls out JD Vance’s abortion remarks
CNN reported that these remarks were amplified by Kamala Harris’s campaign on X. Vance’s stance on abortion has been scrutinized since Trump selected him as his vice-presidential running mate.
In 2022, Vance expressed support for a national 15-week abortion ban with exceptions but has since moderated his position, acknowledging that “we have to accept people do not want abortion bans.” He supports the availability of mifepristone, an abortion pill, and agrees with Trump that states should decide their own abortion laws. However, in January 2023, Vance signed a letter urging the Department of Justice to use the Comstock Act, a 19th-century anti-obscenity law, to ban the mailing of abortion pills nationwide.
Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, stated, “Senator Vance has made his position clear: he agrees with President Trump that each state should have the chance to individually set their own abortion laws.”
“Desperate attacks from Democrats will not distract voters from the deadly effects of Kamala’s wide-open border, the untenable cost of living caused by her inflationary spending or any other aspect of her far-left, radical agenda.”