Pence argues Trump betrayed GOP with aversion to national abortion ban

Former Vice President Mike Pence argued that his ex-boss, former President Trump, has betrayed the Republican Party with an aversion to signing a national abortion ban if elected in 2024.

Pence said his proudest accomplishment while serving as Trump’s VP was the overturning of Roe v. Wade, adding that it is now “disheartening” for him to see the former president “retreat from the pro-life cause.”

“Like so many other advocates for life, I was deeply disappointed when Mr. Trump stated that he considered abortion to be a state-only issue and would not sign a bill prohibiting late-term abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, even if it came to his desk,” Pence wrote in an op-ed published Saturday in The New York Times.

“No,” Trump said when asked by reporters two weeks ago in Georgia if he would sign a national abortion ban if it passed Congress and came to his desk if he’s reelected.

Pence, again, expressed his disappointment with Trump’s embrace of the position that abortion policy should left to the states. He previously called the former president’s position on the issue a “slap in the face.”

The former governor of Indiana said that he knows how “committed” Trump was to the pro-life movement during their administration, but Pence now thinks the former president is “retreating” from that position.

“He is leading other Republicans astray,” Pence wrote in the op-ed.

He pointed to an example of a Senate candidate in Arizona, Trump-ally Kari Lake, backing the Republican effort to overturn the state’s recent Supreme Court ruling which upheld an 1864 law that would outlaw abortion from the moment of conception, with only having exception to save the life of a mother.

“One recent example is an Arizona Republican running for the U.S. Senate, who followed Trump’s lead and pledged to oppose a federal ban on late-term abortions,” Pence said on Fox News Live. “When our leaders aren’t firmly committed to life, others will waver too. Courage inspires imitation. So does weakness.”

Pence said that Republicans should not worry about the electoral consequences of adopting a 15-week “minimum national standard.”

History has proved that when Republicans stand for life without apology and contrast our common-sense positions with the extremism of the pro-abortion left, voters reward us with victories at the ballot box,” Pence wrote in the op-ed, namedropping Republican governors like Brian Kemp (Ga.), Greg Abbott (Texas) and Mike DeWine (Ohio) who were reelected even after signing bills limiting abortion after six weeks.

Updated at 8:16 pm on Apr. 21.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.