Next week, Pence is headed to Pennsylvania where he’ll meet with “pro-life advocates” and participate in what his office is calling a “fireside chat highlighting President Trump’s record as the most Pro-Life president ever.”
“Life is winning in America today,” Pence said, participating in a roundtable where women shared their experiences about why they visited the center and the decisions they made with their pregnancies. He thanked Trump for defending the anti-abortion movement, as well as younger Americans who he said are leading it.
“Joe Biden supports taxpayer funded abortion all the way up to birth,” Pence said, reprising a claim from the Republican National Convention.
A Biden campaign official said that Biden supports Roe v. Wade — the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, as amended by Planned Parenthood v. Casey. That 1992 Supreme Court case introduced the “undue burden” standard to determine if a state law imposes a “substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability.”
“By repeating a false and twisted narrative about abortion, Mike Pence is once again spreading misinformation in an effort to further stigmatize the right to choose,” Biden campaign spokesperson Rosemary Boeglin told CNN in a statement. “It’s grossly irresponsible, wholly unreflective of this medical procedure, and he should be ashamed of himself.”
Pence was met with dozens of protesters during his first stop Thursday at the Gateway Women’s Care pregnancy and sexual health center, many wearing masks and holding signs with slogans including, “Trump = Tyrant, Pence = Puppet,” “I vote pro-choice,” “I’m a woman not a womb,” and “Keep abortion safe and legal.”
Abortion rights groups slammed Pence’s visit to the North Carolina clinic.
“It says all you need to know about the priorities of the Trump/Pence administration when the vice president comes to our state not to talk about tackling the COVID-19 pandemic or systemic racism, but to … spread more lies about abortion and reproductive health care,” Sarah Riddle, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes in North Carolina, said in a statement.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue accused Pence and Tillis of “sending a simple message to North Carolinians and Americans across the country: that their extremist ideology takes precedence over science, medical expertise, and people’s health and safety.”
CNN’s Betsy Klein, Daniella Diaz and Sarah Mucha contributed to this report.
Source : Nbcnewyork