Psaki slams Vance's stance on abortion and childless women

MSNBC host Jen Psaki on Sunday offered a provocative commentary on Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) criticizing the GOP vice presidential nominee's position on abortion and saying "he wants all women to have children even if they are raped."

"He wants to force the victims of rape and incest to bear the children of their attacks," Psaki, the former White House press secretary for President Biden, said on her MSNBC show, "Inside with Jen Psaki."

"That's his position, a circumstance that he dismissed as a mere inconvenience, and he said that federal intervention might be necessary to prevent women from crossing state lines for reproductive care. So basically, to sum this all up, he wants all women to have children even if they are raped," Psaki said.

The Hill has reached out to Vance and former President Trump's campaigns for comment.

Vance is oposed to abortion and applauded the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but has at times voiced support for some exceptions.

During his campaign for the Senate, Vance Texas's ban on abortion, which does not make exceptions unless the mother's life is at risked.

Previously asked whether a woman “should be forced to carry a child to term” after being the victim of rape or incest, Vance said he rejected the premise of the question.

He appeared to shift his stance the following year, saying he has "always believed in reasonable exceptions," including in the case of rape, incest and the mother's life.

Vance has also recently echoed Trump's view that states can make their own abortion laws, contrasting with his older remark that “some minimum national standard is totally fine with me.” 

Vance is separately facing a backlash over 2021 remarks he made criticizing those who don't have children.

In those remarks, Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

"First of all, JD Vance really has no right to question why anyone doesn't have kids, whatever the reason may be," Psaki said. "It's none of his business whether a woman is childless by choice or an adoptive mother or would-be mother or stepmother like Kamala Harris, but his comments are also insutling to the millions of women who have ever struggled with fertility issues."

Vance defended the "childless cat ladies" remarks last week, calling it a “sarcastic comment” and pivoting to attack Democrats as “antifamily.”

“I know the media wants to attack me and wants me to back down on this, Megyn, but the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way,” Vance said on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” last week.

Psaki also pointed to remarks Vance made in July 2021, when he suggested parents should have "more of an ability to speak their voice" at the polls than those who do not have children.

"And for those who don't have kids, he thinks their vote should count less and he has special hatred for those childless women who happen to have cats when the truth is JD Vance is passing a whole lot of judgement on millions of people in this country," Psaki said.

In a statement emailed to The Hill last week, Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk said “the leftwing media” has “twisted Senator Vance’s words and spun up a false narrative about his position on the issues.”