Former Vice President Mike Pence called for abortion rights to be rescinded from coast to coast during a Tuesday speech at the Young America’s Foundation annual student conference in Washington, D.C.
“I stand before you today with a grateful heart that after nearly 50 years of lives of incalculable value lost to our nation, 50 years of heartbreak, 50 years of praying and fasting and working and volunteering and caring,” Pence said, according to Mediaite, before taking some of the credit for the monumental shift in abortion rights nationwide, following the recent reversal of the 1973 case Roe v. Wade.
“Last month at long last, with the support of three Supreme Court justices appointed during the Trump-Pence administration, we sent Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs.”
“But, in a very real sense, we’ve only come to the end of the beginning,” he continued. “As my fellow conservatives, it now falls to this generation to take the case for life to every state and statehouse in America. Our freedom agenda calls for advancing pro-life protections in every state in the union, every single one.”
The New York Post reports that Pence called for increased support for crisis pregnancy centers, putting a stop to tax-payer funding of abortions and defunding Planned Parenthood, as well as reforming adoption laws.
“You can’t be pro-life if you’re not pro-adoption,” Pence said, according to the outlet.
He added that he believes the “destiny” of the United States is “inextricably linked to restoring the unalienable right to life for every American born.”
“We save the babies, we’ll save America,” the 48th vice president said.
Hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, the conference began on Monday and is scheduled to last until Saturday, according to the Post. Pence is a Ronald Reagan Presidential Scholar with the organization.
Pence’s remarks on Tuesday came just hours before former President Donald Trump was slated to give the keynote address at approximately 3 p.m. during the America First Policy Institute’s two-day summit.
Trump’s speech marks the first time the former commander in chief has publicly returned to Washington, D.C., since leaving office.