The Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, participate in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center on Oct. 1, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance squared off Tuesday in the only vice presidential debate and, unsurprisingly, they were miles apart when it came to abortion and immigration policy.
Here’s what both vice presidential candidates had to say about two of the most pressing issues in this election and how it relates to their campaign’s policy.
Abortion
Walz talked about how Amanda Zurawski was denied an abortion in Texas despite health complications during her pregnancy and how a then 12-year-old girl in Kentucky became pregnant and miscarried after being raped by her stepfather.
Vance admitted his party needs to do a better job talking to women about abortion and said abortion policies across the country should differ state to state.
Danielle Bessett, who co-leads the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network (OPEN), was glad the candidates discussed the impact of abortion bans following the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, which left abortion up to each state.
“The research is very clear that abortion bans cause harm to individuals and communities, so regardless of who’s in office or what policy is promised during the election season, it’s really critical that people have timely, safe and de-stigmatized access to abortion care,” Bessett said.
Former president Donald Trump’s exact policy on abortion is unclear.
“I haven’t seen a fully consistent position come from them,” Bessett said. “I think the Republicans’ perspective on this has changed a lot and can be quite uncertain, and the uncertainty leans into this idea of restrictions.”
During Tuesday’s debate, Vance mentioned “setting some minimum national standard” for abortion and previously showed support for a bill banning abortions nationally after 15 weeks. In 2022, Vance supported a national abortion ban without exceptions, but has since been less committed.
“A minimum national standard is one that would give me quite a lot of concern,” Bessett said. “Given our research in Ohio, we know that clinicians in Ohio’s hospitals were often uncertain about what kinds of actions they could undertake in emergency situations.”
During the debate, Trump tweeted how he “would not support a federal abortion ban under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters.”
Even though it didn’t come up during the vice presidential debate, Trump has previously expressed being open to banning access to mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions.
Bessett worries what a mifepristone ban would, in particular, mean for rural Ohioans who are able to get the medicine through telehealth.
In this photo illustration, packages of Mifepristone tablets are displayed at a family planning clinic. (Photo illustration by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Telehealth is such a benefit to folks in rural areas who might not either otherwise be able to access health care, and in the event that the Trump administration chose to ban or limit mifepristone, that would be a real hardship for Ohioans,” she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz have talked about reinstating protections under Roe v. Wade.
“If Harris and Walz were to be elected, we would expect that federal policy would be very congruent with what the voters passed in terms of the constitutional amendment around protecting abortion access in Ohio,” Bessett said.
Last year, 57% of Ohioans voted to enshrine reproductive rights in the state’s constitution.
Immigration
Immigration came up a lot during Tuesday’s debate, but “the conversation about immigration seems to be detached from reality,” said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, the Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at Ohio State University.
Vance claimed illegal immigrants have overwhelmed Springfield’s schools, hospitals and housing, but local officials have rejected his characterization.
The Haitian migrants in Springfield are in the country legally with Temporary Protected Status. Walz pointed out during the debate how Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has said the Haitians in Springfield are in the United States legally.
“When it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings,” Walz said during the debate.
Trump told reporters in September he will carry out “the largest deportation in the history of our country.”
But when asked twice during Tuesday’s debate if they would deport parents who have illegally entered the U.S. and separate them from their children born in the U.S., Vance didn’t answer the question.
“We should expect to see that in a second (Trump) term there will be some significant resistance by advocates, as well as by state and local elected officials and governments in large parts of the United States, and so a deportation campaign model … is going to have to rely heavily on the resources of state and local governments that are controlled by Republicans,” Hernández said.
Vance also suggested migrants are responsible for bringing fentanyl into the United States, which is false. About 86% of people sentenced for trafficking fentanyl were U.S. citizens, according to data from the United States Sentencing Commission.
“Drug cartels are not sending fentanyl, by and large, in backpacks that people are walking across the southern border,” Hernández said. “Fentanyl is clearly an enormous problem in the United States, but it’s not a problem associated with migrants that drugs are coming through ports of entry.”
According to her policy issues, Harris would sign the bipartisan border security border bill into law which would add 1,500 new Border Patrol agents.
“The implication being that this is somehow going to keep people from coming to the United States unlawfully,” Hernández said. “It’s unclear to me what the basis for that conclusion is.”
The National Border Patrol Council endorsed the piece of legislation, but Senate Republicans voted against it earlier this year after Trump pressured them to vote against it in an attempt to use border security while campaigning.
Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on X.
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