LOUDOUN — Former Vice President Mike Pence is confident that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, and he credits this projected pro-life victory to former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointments and the voice of the American people.
During a Saturday morning interview with The Daily Wire ahead of his commencement speech at Patrick Henry College, Pence weighed in on the leaked draft opinion showing that the court is likely preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The former vice president suggested that overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the power to decide abortion back to the states would prompt Americans to take a closer look at who they elect on the state level.
He referenced leftist hopes that increased focus on Roe would drive voters to the polls, noting that Democratic lawmakers wish to change the subject and distract from inflation, the crisis at the southern border, and more.
“I have a very different thought,” he said. “I have a sense that should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and return the question of abortion to the states, there’s going to be millions of Americans who take a harder look at who they are supporting and electing as governor and as their state legislators on the issues of life.”
“And I think in a very real sense, not only will the prospect of this decision potentially give us a new beginning for life in this country, which I think is the most important moral question in America today, but also I think it will revive a political debate at the state level,” he added.
Overturning Roe v. Wade may “set the stage for an incredible renewal of everything that’s always made this country great at the state and federal level, in 2022, 2024 and beyond,” Pence predicted.
“I think you will see, people around the country will be looking for women and men who are willing to stand with them on life, on religious liberty, on parental rights,” he said.
Should the court overturn Roe v. Wade, Pence believes the credit should go “first and foremost to the American people who supported a candidate and a ticket that were unapologetically pro-life.”
“Both President Trump and I spoke plainly in the campaign in 2016 about our commitment to the sanctity of life,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud to have been part of the most pro-life administration in American history. President Trump kept his word, appointed strict constructionists to the Supreme Court of the United States. And it should come as no surprise that three of the justices, out of the five, in the draft opinion, were appointed by our administration.”
“Our record on life didn’t stop at the Supreme Court,” he noted. “We saw the appointment and confirmation of nearly 300 other conservative judges to our federal courts at every level. We reestablished the Mexico City policy that banned federal dollars from supporting organizations around the world that provide or promote abortion. We provided millions of dollars of support to crisis pregnancy centers around the country. As vice president, I was the first official at my level to ever visit a crisis pregnancy center while in office. And I was honored to do so.”
Pence also noted that he cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate that allowed Trump to sign a bill allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood.
Former Vice President Mike Pence discusses the potential that Roe v. Wade will be overturned with The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan at Patrick Henry College.
“Our record on the right to life was consistent,” he said. “Pro-lifers around America, me included, couldn’t be more grateful that President Donald Trump kept his word and appointed conservatives to our court.”
“When Roe v. Wade is overturned, it will be because of the appointments that President Trump made to the court and the willingness of the American people to support an administration and to support Republican leaders in the United States Senate who stood by the right to life,” he added.
Pence also called the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion a “despicable act,” saying, “those responsible need to be held to account.”
“But I hope and pray that the draft opinion becomes adopted as the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States and we send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs,” he added.
“I’ve long believed that that Roe v Wade was not only morally wrong, but but deeply legally flawed,” he said. “And even the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was a defender of abortion rights, found it difficult to defend on a legal basis.”
Pence’s hope is that “the five justices will have the courage of their convictions” and that the question of abortion will be returned to the states and “the American people where it belongs.”