By WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
Share this story

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence used a Friday gathering of some of the nation’s leading Christian conservatives to urge his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination to support a 15-week federal abortion ban at minimum.

The exhortation at the Faith &Freedom Coalition’s annual conference, coming a day before the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, amounted to a challenge for the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, who has been reluctant to endorse a federal abortion ban. The former president is addressing the evangelical assembly on Saturday night.

ADVERTISING

“We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in this country,” Pence said. “Every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard.”

Pence was among a number of 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina — to speak Friday before a ballroom of about 500 attendees. All of the candidates emphasized their anti-abortion credentials while urging like-minded activists to stay on the political offensive, even as leading Democrats insist their party’s defense of abortion rights will be a 2024 boon to them.

DeSantis, who signed a law in Florida banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, touted the measure with a nod toward Trump’s veiled criticism last month that it is “too harsh.”

“It was the right thing to do,” DeSantis told the crowd. “Don’t let anyone tell you it wasn’t.”

DeSantis has been less clear on where he stands on a federal abortion ban.

Not far from the conference site in Washington, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were rallying Friday with abortion rights supporters to mark the anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

That ruling, issued June 24, 2022, ended federal constitutional abortion protections and paved the way for near-total bans in some Republican-led states. Democrats have vowed to codify the right to an abortion in federal law, but don’t have the votes in Congress to do so.

“Since that dark June day last year, each one of you has worked tirelessly to fight back,” Biden told activists from reproductive rights groups. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Referring to supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, the president added, “What’s really remarkable is despite the will of the American people, MAGA Republicans made it clear that they won’t stop with the Dobbs decision.”

After stronger-than-expected results in last year’s midterm elections, Democrats believe issues surrounding abortion access can energize their base, attract moderates alienated by GOP hardliners and help the party hold the Senate, flip the House and reelect Biden

Even Trump has suggested that increased abortion restrictions are a weakness for Republicans, despite his three Supreme Court nominees making up the majority of justices who voted to overturn Roe last year.