--- title: J.D. Vance Pretends He’s Moderate on Abortion description: Vance appeared to understand the political unpopularity of the Republican position on abortion and outlined “pro-family” priorities, which are actually being proposed by Democrats. canonical: https://time.com/7027577/vance-walz-debate-abortion/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-10-02T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:16.605Z article:section: Politics og:title: J.D. Vance Pretends He’s Moderate on Abortion og:description: Vance appeared to understand the political unpopularity of the Republican position on abortion and outlined “pro-family” priorities, which are actually being proposed by Democrats. og:url: https://time.com/7027577/vance-walz-debate-abortion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9f8013818dd419d/698a5bbd929fad0af7bfd149/jd-vance-abortion-pro-family.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: CBS Hosts Vice Presidential Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: J.D. Vance Pretends He’s Moderate on Abortion twitter:description: Vance appeared to understand the political unpopularity of the Republican position on abortion and outlined “pro-family” priorities, which are actually being proposed by Democrats. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9f8013818dd419d/698a5bbd929fad0af7bfd149/jd-vance-abortion-pro-family.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # J.D. Vance Tries to Gaslight America Into Thinking He’s Moderate on Abortion > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5ea45a02-b4a8-410c-bb8f-9a56aa0abc20&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Biggest Moments From the VP Debate Between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance [Watch (HLS stream): The Biggest Moments From the VP Debate Between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OFFtFXON.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2024-10-02. Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance faced off in their first and possibly only debate Tuesday night, just five weeks ahead of Election Day in a closely contested race._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2024 4:00 AM UTC  J.D. Vance speaks in the spin room following the vice presidential debate in New York on Oct. 1, 2024. J.D. Vance speaks in the spin room following the vice presidential debate in New York on Oct. 1, 2024. Al Drago—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2024 4:00 AM UTC J.D. Vance attempted to distort his own position on abortion in the [vice presidential debate](https://time.com/7027572/vance-walz-debate-top-moments-quotes/) on Oct. 1, suggesting that he “never supported a national ban.” In the past, he [has said that he ](https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/politics/kfile-jd-vance-abortion-comments/index.html)“certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally” and was “sympathetic” to the view that a national ban was needed to stop women from going to another state to get an abortion. Vance appeared to understand the political unpopularity of the Republican position on abortion. “My party, we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us," he said, while maintaining that he agrees with his running mate Donald Trump that abortion rights should be decided at a state level. **Read More:** [_J.D. Vance’s MAGA-Moderate Tightrope_](https://time.com/7027643/vance-vp-debate-maga-moderate/) Vance then went on to outline a set of “pro-family” priorities, which are actually being proposed by Democrats. “I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word,” he said. “I want us to support fertility treatments.” (Senate Republicans just killed a bill that would have protected IVF nationwide.) “I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies.” (Kamala Harris is proposing a $6,000 child tax credit for families in the first year after a baby is born; Vance has also floated an expanded child tax credit, although Trump has not committed to one.) “I want us to make it easier for young families to afford a home, so they can afford a place to raise that family.” (Harris, not Trump, is proposing $25,000 in down payment assistance for families to buy their first homes; Trump’s housing plan is vague on details and seems to rely on mass deportation.) Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, said “things worked best when _Roe v. Wade_ was in place,” and he accused Vance of citing policy proposals Trump hadn’t fully endorsed. “In Minnesota, what we did was restore _Roe v. Wade_. We made sure that we put women in charge of their health care,” Walz said, before adding: “This is basic human right. We have seen maternal mortality skyrocket in Texas, outpacing many other countries in the world. This is about health care. In Minnesota, we are ranked first in health care for a reason. We trust women. We trust doctors.” Trump and Vance are currently trying to distance themselves from Project 2025, a plan for the second Trump administration drafted by Trump alliesthat [calls for](https://static.project2025.org/2025%5FMandateForLeadership%5FCHAPTER-14.pdf) imposing new federal restrictions on abortion that would severely limit access to reproductive care nationwide. Project 2025 proposes that the FDA revoke approval of mifepristone (one of the pills used in medication abortions) and calls for denying access to abortion as emergency care. When Vance was asked if he planned to create a federal pregnancy monitoring agency, he said “certainly we won’t.” But Project 2025 proposes to rename the Department of Health and Human Services as the “Department of Life,” and recommends that the CDC implement nationwide “abortion surveillance” to track abortions, complications, and miscarriages nationwide. ## Transcript I'm Margaret Brennan in order to have Iran Israel's ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. But what's fundamental here is that steady leadership is gonna matter. Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of line. It is up to Israel, what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. So if we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people. And unfortunately, C Kamala Harris has done exactly the opposite. Donald Trump called it a hoax. Then joke that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in. Climate change is real. Reducing our impact is absolutely critical, but this is not a false choice. We Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status. The economy thing. Margaret, the rules were that a fact check. And since you're fact checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on. We want to have. That has not been on the books. Since 1990. It's something. Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you because your mikes are cut. You're going to hear a lot from Tim Walz this evening, and you just heard it in the answer. A lot of what C Kamala Harris proposes to do. And some of it, I'll be honest with you. It even sounds pretty good. Here's what you want hear is that C Kamala Harris has already done it because she's been the Vice President for 3.5 years. She had the opportunity. If you're listening tonight and you want billionaires to get tax cuts, you heard what the numbers were. I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just that's what I've said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the Democracy protests went in. And from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance. But I've also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump. But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people. My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don't trust us. I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro family in the fullest sense of the word. He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just says. Did he lose the 2020 election? Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did C Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? That is a damning non answer a coalition that Coma Harris has built from Bernie Sanders to **** Cheney to Taylor Swift, but there's one that Senator Vance said that does resonate with me. He said Donald Trump makes the people I care about afraid. A lot of America feels that way. She's been the Vice President for 3.5 years. Day one was 1,400 days ago, and her policies have made these problems worse. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7027577/vance-walz-debate-abortion/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7027577/vance-walz-debate-abortion/"},"headline":"J.D. 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