Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized former President Donald Trump's position on abortion Monday, calling it a "retreat" on the right to life and a "slap in the face" to anti-abortion Americans.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for November's election, on Monday said abortion laws should be determined by the states and in vitro fertilization should be protected.
"President Trump's retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020," Pence, who challenged his former boss for this year's GOP presidential nomination, wrote in a post on X.
"By nominating and standing by the confirmation of conservative justices, the Trump-Pence Administration helped send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs and gave the pro-life movement the opportunity to compassionately support women and unborn children."
Trump's appointment of three Supreme Court justices led to the end of the federal right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in June 2022. But abortion was a big issue in the 2022 midterm elections; and many people, including Trump, believe Republicans would have fared better had they taken a more moderate approach instead of calling for restrictive bans.
"In the landmark Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court returned the question of abortion to the states and the American people," Pence wrote. "The American people elect presidents, senators and congressmen, and a majority of Americans long to see minimum national protections for the unborn in federal law.
"But today, too many Republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands of the battle for life. Republicans win on life when we speak the truth boldly and stand on the principle that we all know to be true — human life begins at conception and should be defended from womb to tomb."
Trump reportedly has said that if elected, he will try to negotiate something that will make "both sides happy," hinting at a national ban after 15 weeks. Trump has criticized the six-week ban imposed by Florida under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Pence wrote that Americans opposed to abortion will not stop "until we see the sanctity of life" become a central part of the law in every state.
"However much our Republican nominee or other candidates seek to marginalize the cause of life, I know pro-life Americans will never relent until we see the sanctity of life restored to the center of American law in every state in this country," Pence wrote.
Newsmax reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.