Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) engaged in heated debate back and forth over reproductive rights and abortion, with Vance arguing that Republicans need to be better at “earning the American people’s trust back.”
During the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, Vance presented his and former President Donald Trump‘s reproductive healthcare agenda as “pro-family” and admitted that the party needs to do better on the subject of IVF and affordability for children.
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“We’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they, frankly, just don’t trust us,” Vance said. “And I think that’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do. I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.”
“We’ve got to do a better job at that, and that’s what real leadership is,” Vance added.
Vance added that Trump has been and is against a national abortion ban, arguing the country is “diverse” and California has a different viewpoint than Georgia.
“Let voters make these decisions, let the individual states make their abortion policy,” the Ohio senator said.
Walz pushed back at Vance’s claims that Democrats are taking a “very radical, pro-abortion stance.”
“No, we’re not. We’re pro-women. We’re pro-freedom to make your own choice,” Walz said. “We know what the implications are to not be that women having miscarriages, women not getting the care, physicians feeling like they may be prosecuted for providing that care.”
Both vice presidential candidates agreed that Amber Thurman, a mother who died when she did not receive timely care after suffering complications from an abortion when she went to a hospital in Georgia, which has restrictions on the procedure.
“I agree with you: Amber Thurman should still be alive, and there are a lot of people who should still be alive, and I certainly wish that she was,” Vance said.
The two sparred over a Minnesota bill that Walz signed into law following the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade, with Walz denying Vance’s claim that the bill states a doctor “is under no obligation to provide lifesaving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion.”
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“It’s not the case. It’s not true. That’s not what the law says,” Walz said.
Most of the debate has been focused on policy rather than personalities compared to the first presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance and Walz have both agreed on several things involving healthcare, immigration, and the economy.