Christian Leaders React After Vance Says Trump Would Veto Federal Ban on Abortion If Elected

Christian leaders are continuing to react to former President Donald Trump’s softened stance on abortion after vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance indicated in an appearance on “Meet the Press“ Sunday (Aug. 25) that Trump would veto a bill imposing federal restrictions on abortion.

Trump himself made waves over the weekend after saying in a post to Truth Social on Friday that his “administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”

On Sunday, Vance sat down with NBC’s Kristen Welker and spoke about Trump’s desire to “end this culture war over this particular topic.”

When Welker asked if the Trump-Vance campaign could commit to opposing a federal ban on abortion if elected, Vance responded, “I can absolutely commit [to] that.”

“Donald Trump has been as clear about that as possible,” he added. “I think it’s important to step back and say, ‘What has Donald Trump actually said on the abortion question and how is it different from what Kamala Harris and the Democrats have said?’”

“Donald Trump’s view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions, because we don’t want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue,” Vance went on to say. “The federal government ought to be focused on getting food prices down, getting housing prices down—issues, of course, where Kamala Harris has been a total disaster.”

“So I think Donald Trump is right. We want the federal government to focus on these big economic and immigration questions,” Vance said. “Let the states figure out their own abortion policy.”

When pressed on whether Trump would veto a bill banning abortion at the federal level, Vance said, “I think I’ve been very clear he would not support it.”

“But would he veto it?” asked Welker. 

“Yeah, I mean if you’re not supporting it as the president of the United States, you fundamentally have to veto it,” Vance said. “I think he would. He’s said explicitly that he would.”  

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As clips of the interview began to circulate on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, a number of Christian leaders reacted to Vance’s remarks.