Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that he still wants Roe v. Wade to be overturned, but declined to say if President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will comply with the campaign promise to do away with the landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
Kavanaugh has not expressed outright opposition to Roe v. Wade, but abortion rights activists are alarmed that it could be on the chopping block if he is confirmed. During the 2016 campaign, Pence said that he hoped to see the ruling end up on “the ash heap of history,” while Trump predicted that Roe v. Wade would be overturned “automatically” if he appointed anti-abortion rights justices to the court.
“I stand for the sanctity of life. This administration, this President are pro-life, but what the American people ought to know is that, as the President said today, this is not an issue he discussed with Judge Kavanaugh, I didn’t discuss it with him either,” Pence said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash when asked if he would be disappointed if Kavanaugh is given an opportunity to overturn Roe and does not.
When Bash asked Pence if he still wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned, the Vice President responded, “I do, but I haven’t been nominated to the Supreme Court.”
