Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), former President Donald Trump‘s running mate, reiterated over the weekend that a second Trump administration would defund Planned Parenthood.
Vance told Real Clear Politics that the campaign has been “consistent” in its view of not supporting taxpayer funding for abortions. During this cycle, the Trump campaign has pushed for leaving the legality of abortion up to states rather than the federal government after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“On the question of defunding Planned Parenthood … our view is we don’t think that taxpayers should fund late-term abortions. That has been a consistent view of the Trump campaign the first time around, it will remain a consistent view,” Vance said.
During Trump’s first term, the former president moved to defund Planned Parenthood through a rule change to Title X that prohibited clinics from receiving funds if they provide abortions. The rule used the Hyde Amendment as its backing but got held up in court.
For a possible second Trump term, he has vowed to leave abortion policy up to states, citing the Dobbs decision as having delegated the powers to local government. He said he would veto a national abortion ban if one were to get passed through Congress.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign responded that she “will defend women’s access to healthcare and reproductive freedom.”
The political arm of Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, endorsed Harris in July, shortly after she replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.
“Here’s the undeniable truth: Vice President Kamala Harris is the only person running for president that we can trust to protect access to abortion,” Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement at the time.
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Earlier this year, Harris became the first sitting vice president to visit an abortion clinic when she visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota, alongside future running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).
The Harris campaign has attempted to make abortion one of the key issues of the campaign, while the Trump campaign has tried steering the focus toward other issues, such as immigration and inflation.
