As he joins Donald J. Trump’s presidential ticket, Mr. Vance is seeking to play down, and in some cases rewrite, his views.
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J.D. Vance previously signed a letter asking the Justice Department to enforce the Comstock Act. He is now softening his language on abortion.
Throughout his brief political career, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio has been an unapologetic opponent of abortion rights, a view driven by his Catholic faith and one he has cited as a driving force in his agenda.
He has supported a federal abortion ban, opposed exceptions for rape and incest, said he wanted to protect life “from the date of conception” and frequently described himself as “100 percent pro-life.”
“I think two wrongs don’t make a right; at the end of day, we are talking about an unborn baby,” he told an Ohio radio host in September 2021 before Roe v. Wade was overturned in part by three Supreme Court justices appointed by the man who named him to the Republicans’ 2024 presidential ticket. “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.”
In January 2023, Mr. Vance signed a letter asking the Justice Department to enforce the Comstock Act, a long-dormant law from 1873, to ban the mailing of abortion medication. Such an action could significantly limit access to such medication, which accounts for a majority of abortions in the country.
“While the use of chemical abortion drugs may be legal in some states, and federal law does not currently explicitly prohibit the use of such drugs, federal law does prohibit the mailing or shipping of such items,” read the letter, which was signed by more than two dozen Republican lawmakers. “Despite attempts to downplay this action, the ‘mere mailing’ of these items is expressly what the law has prohibited for nearly 150 years.”
Enforcing the Comstock Act is included in a plan released by a coalition that has been drawing up America First-style policy plans, nicknamed Project 2025 — though the law is referred to only by the statute number. Mr. Vance has publicly praised those plans as containing “some good ideas,” even as former President Donald J. Trump has tried to distance himself from the effort.
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Source: nytimes.com
