Former US Vice President Mike Pence on Friday urged his Republican rivals to back the principle of a federal law that would limit abortion deadlines across the country, seeking to spearhead a debate favorite Donald Trump is said to have sidestepped is.
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Almost a year to the day after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn federal protections on abortion, Mr Pence, who is running for president in 2024, has challenged his competitors.
“The fact is, abortion laws in the United States are more aligned with China and North Korea than with western countries in Europe,” he claimed at the Road to Majority conference, attended by 3,000 evangelical conservatives in Washington.
“So I want to say it from the bottom of my heart. “Every Republican presidential candidate should support a 15-week abortion ban as a minimum national rule,” he added.
Mike Pence made no mention of his former boss, but his speech appeared to be addressed to Donald Trump, who sees the religious right as crucial to his 2016 victory and remains so in his current ambitions to return to the White House.
The former President delighted Conservatives by appointing three justices to the Supreme Court. The Temple of Justice returned on June 24, 2022 to the famous “Roe v. Wade” ruling, which guaranteed a federal right to abortion since 1973.
But anti-abortion advocates are stunned that Mr Trump refuses to publicly support a nationwide abortion ban despite boasting about his role in changing the Supreme Court’s position.
“Holiness”
Mr Trump also warned against a tendency to go too far to the right, hinting that anti-abortionists were to blame for Republicans’ weak results in the last midterm elections.
“Some (Republicans) who will speak on the same platform will say that … nothing should be done at the federal level,” Mr Pence said, alluding to the criticism of Mr Trump.
“Others will say that continuing to fight for life could lead to too strict laws in the States. Some even went so far as to blame Roe V. Wade’s cancellation for the 2022 election losses,” he said, echoing the word “life” that is the leitmotif of “pro-life” (anti-abortion) activists .
“But let me say it from the bottom of my heart: (…) Life is the cause of our time. And we cannot rest until we put the sanctity of life back at the heart of American law in every state in this country,” he said.
The Road to Majority conference brings together all major Republican candidates on the same stage for the first time, two months ahead of the first Republican presidential debate scheduled for August 23 in Milwaukee.
Mr. Trump is expected to speak at the conference on Saturday, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican primary candidate, later on Friday.