"Slap in the face": Pence condemns Trump's latest abortion stance
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Former Vice President Mike Pence on June 23, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Former Vice President Mike Pence rebuked former President Trump's latest stance on abortion Monday.
The big picture: The presumptive GOP presidential nominee said Monday that abortion laws should be left to the states to decide, though he did not take a stance on whether he supports a national limit.
- Pence, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump early in the 2024 GOP presidential race, is staunchly anti-abortion, while the former president has frequently dodged questions on the politically charged issue.
What he's saying: "President Trump's retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020," Pence wrote on X.
- The former vice president said the Trump-Pence administration helped push Roe "to the ash heap of history where it belongs" by nominating and supporting conservative justices.
- He said he believes a majority of Americans want "minimum national protections for the unborn in federal law."
- "But today, too many Republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands of the battle for life," Pence continued. "Republicans win on life when we speak the truth boldly and stand on the principle that we all know to be true — human life begins at conception and should be defended from womb to tomb. However much our Republican nominee or other candidates seek to marginalize the cause of life, I know pro-life Americans will never relent until we see the sanctity of life restored to the center of American law in every state in this country."
Catch up quick: Trump said in a video posted on Truth Social, "My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state."
- He also said that he is "strongly in favor" of exceptions for rape, incest and life-threatening situations.
Zoom out: Pence said last month that he won't endorse Trump in the 2024 presidential race, saying they have "profound differences" on an array of issues.
- The relationship between the two soured after Pence certified the 2020 election despite Trump's false claims that the election was stolen. The former vice president has been vocal in his criticism of Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Go deeper: Pence says he won't endorse Trump
