Former vice president Mike Pence on Wednesday rolled out a comprehensive anti-abortion policy agenda that seeks to criminalize the practice in every state and strengthen federal adoption laws — a blueprint likely to color the 2024 election.
“The tide has turned in this nation,” Pence said in his first public remarks since a June 24 Supreme Court ruling that sent abortion laws back to the states. “Many more are with us than are with them, don’t ever doubt it. Life is winning in America.”
His venue was the 1,800-person Florence Baptist Temple, which was filled to near capacity for the 30-minute speech where Pence called for an end to elective abortions, ban on corporations paying for workers to get the procedure in states where they’re allowed and creation of a federal task force to “investigate, prosecute and arrest” people who vandalize pregnancy crisis centers.
“Standing here in the first days of post-Roe America, we must resolve that we will not rest, we will not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of law in every state in the nation,” Pence said.
His remarks struck back at a July 8 presidential executive order that included protections for medication-induced abortions, wider access to contraceptives and free legal services for reproductive health care providers and patients.
Earlier in the day, Pence was in Washington, D.C. to meet with the Republican Study Committee, a House caucus that helps craft conservative economic and social policies.
Democratic National Committee spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a news release that given Pence’s clout among GOP policymakers, his Florence remarks will travel far outside the Palmetto State.
“Let’s be clear: Mike Pence has long been one of the most extreme voices on abortion within the Republican Party,” Moussa said in the release. “His plans to ban abortion pills are nothing short of an assault on women’s rights and health care. Americans cannot afford Pence’s dangerous, anti-choice agenda.
“Pence’s speech in Florence will provide a road map for Republicans across the country as they work tirelessly to strip away Americans’ fundamental rights.”
Because legislatures are now responsible for crafting abortion policy, Pence said voters need to send strong “pro-life” candidates into their halls, and called on South Carolina residents to re-elect Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.
South Carolina’s current abortion law bans them at at around six weeks of pregnancy, with limited exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and fetal anomaly. The Republican-led General Assembly is considering this year passing a more restrictive ban, with the House recently starting public listening sessions that have focused on whether to keep exceptions in place.
Wednesday’s service opened as all of Florence Baptist Temple’s weekly gatherings do, with a children’s choir and congregants singing before Pastor Bill Monroe offered a short prayer.
“We thank you that after 50 bloody years, Roe v. Wade now has been overruled, and we thank you tonight for the hope that we have today that some day, abortion will cease in America,” Monroe said. “We’re so happy for the victory you gave us.”
Pence’s latest trip to the Palmetto State follows his May appearance at a Spartanburg pregnancy crisis center. Since entering public life in 2001 when he was first elected to the U.S. House from Indiana, Pence has been a strident voice for eliminating access to abortion.
In 2019, he cast a tie-breaking U.S. Senate vote allowing states to roll back funding for Planned Parenthood, which he said Wednesday was among the highlights of his political career.
“The heartbreaking consequences of the Roe decision cannot be overstated,” he said. “Lives of incalculable promise ended before they were born, and countless young women have experienced sorrow and regret that will last a lifetime.
“The Roe decision inflicted tragedy not only on our nation, but on all humanity. The scale is unprecedented in the history of humanity.”
