Mike Pence Calls for National Abortion Ban

Former Vice President Mike Pence praised the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and with it the constitutional right to abortion access. “Today, Life Won,” Pence tweeted. “By overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court of the United States has given the American people a new beginning for life and I commend the Justices in the majority for having the courage of their convictions.” 

Pence went on to declare that now that “Roe v. Wade has been consigned to the ash heap of history, a new arena in the cause of life has emerged and it is incumbent on all who cherish the sanctity of life to resolve that we will take the defense of the unborn and support for women in crisis pregnancies to every state Capitol in America. Having been given this second chance for Life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”

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The call for a new era of anti-choice activism aimed at stripping legal abortion access across all 50 states is already well under way. Thirteen states are now poised to ban legal abortion access virtually entirely through “trigger laws,” with many states seeking not only to ban abortion but to criminalize those who provide and seek abortion services.

Pence wasn’t the only prominent Republican to praise the ruling or signal that the next goal could be a national abortion ban. Across conservative circles the end of Roe and the stripping of bodily autonomy from millions of Americans has been met with unrestrained glee. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the Dobbs ruling “courageous and correct.” In his statement McConnell compared the end of Roe to the overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation as constitutional.  

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R issued a joint statement applauding the “historic ruling.” The statement pledged to “continue to reject” policies that would allow abortions later in pregnancy and taxpayer funding for abortion services.  

Scalise touted the decision to the media later on Friday, praising the movement to “end abortion in this country.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose state last year passed one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans, tweeted that the end of Roe signified the end of “one of the most morally & legally corrupt eras in US history.” He added that he was closing his office and making today an annual holiday.

Texas is one of the states that will virtually entirely outlaw abortion access through “trigger laws.” 

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham called Roe one of “the largest power grabs in the history of the Supreme Court” and lauded its end. “Today’s decision by the Supreme Court is a long overdue constitutional correction allowing for elected officials in the states to decide issues of life,” he wrote.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio celebrated the ruling as correct. “Today the Supreme Court correctly returned the power to regulate abortion to the states,” he tweeted. “I will soon introduce a proposal to support mothers and their babies so that every child has a real opportunity to pursue the promise of America.”

Several conservatives, including Donald Trump Jr., congratulated the former president for giving the conservative movement “three strong pro-life Supreme Court Justices.” 

President Biden also pegged the decision to Trump in remarks delivered from the White House on Friday. “It was three justices named by one president, Donald Trump, who are the core of today’s decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country,” the president said.

“Let’s be very clear,” Biden added. “With Roe gone, the health and life of women in this nation are now at risk.”

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