U.S. Sen J.D. Vance (L) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (R) | Lucy Valeski and Andrew Roth photos
U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, and Gov. Tim Walz, a Minnesota Democrat, are set to debate tonight in New York City. The vice presidential candidates have contrasting views on abortion rights. Both supported maternal health initiatives in Congress.
Elected to the Senate in 2022, Vance has cosponsored several anti-abortion proposals, such as a bill by Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst that would’ve required the U.S. Department of Defense to provide federal lawmakers with a report on abortion services in the military. Vance also backed Ernst’s proposals to defund Planned Parenthood and make states send abortion data to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The legislation echoed proposals in Project 2025, a conservative agenda that outlines how to restrict abortion — without a national ban — should a Republican win the presidency.
The 900-page creed endorses the enforcement of the Comstock Act, a 19th century law that anti-abortion legal theorists say could be used to ban the mailing of abortion pills. In January 2023, Vance signed a letter sent to the U.S. attorney general urging the Department of Justice to enforce the dormant law and crack down on abortion pills, the Washington Post reported.
Vance voted in favor of Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s resolution scorning the Biden administration’s reproductive health care services rule that reimburses members of the military who have to travel for abortion care, according to the congressional record. It was rejected in a 51-48 vote. (Tuberville went on to block hundreds of military promotions last year in protest of the Pentagon’s policy.)
Vance cosponsored a bill by Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker in January 2023 that would codify the Hyde Amendment — a provision approved annually that prohibits federal funds from going to abortion unless it’s for rape, incest or the mother’s life is in danger — into federal law.
Fertility treatments have become a heavily debated topic this year following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling. Vance cosponsored Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s resolution, introduced in March, that showed support for in vitro fertilization, but the nonbinding gesture didn’t gain traction. In June, Vance voted against consideration of Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s Right to IVF Act, which would codify a federal right to fertility treatments and supersede state laws on the health care services, among other provisions.
As far as maternal health legislation, Vance endorsed Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton’s bill last year that would provide unpaid family and medical leave after miscarriages and establish a $3,600 tax credit for families suffering from stillbirths. The legislation would also cut Title X funding from abortion providers. Vance voted in favor of the Maternal and Child Health Stillbirth Prevention Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in July. Federal money that’s a part of a maternal health care block grant can now be used to fund research on stillbirth prevention and reduction.
For his part, Walz supported abortion rights and maternal health care legislation while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2019. He cosponsored earlier iterations of the Women’s Health Protection Act in 2015 and 2017, an effort by California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu to protect the federal right to an abortion years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
In Congress, Walz frequently backed bills calling for research on the causes of postpartum depression and psychosis. One initiative passed the House but was never introduced in the Senate. A nonbinding resolution Walz supported about working to improve maternal health outcomes passed both chambers in 2018.
Walz was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Under his tenure, Minnesota has become a beacon of reproductive rights in the Midwest, where the state is surrounded by other states that enacted abortion restrictions post-Roe: the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin. He signed legislation in January 2023 that codified the right to abortion and reproductive health care with no limits or exceptions. The state also removed restrictions on abortion care, such as 24-hour waiting periods and extensive reporting to the health department.
After a court ruling temporarily stalled IVF in Alabama, Walz shared that he and his wife, Gwen, used fertility treatments to grow their family. When Vice President Kamala Harris selected Gov. Walz as her running mate in August, he started talking about his family’s experience in stump speeches and interviews on the campaign trail.
The Harris-Walz campaign clarified that the Walzes used intrauterine insemination, not in vitro fertilization, to conceive. Vance has accused Walz of intentionally lying about the treatment. Fertility experts say patients and their spouses commonly get the terms confused and that “IVF” is sometimes used as a catchall phrase due to its popularity.
The candidates’ perspectives on reproductive rights, fertility treatments and maternal health will likely come into play during tonight’s debate at 9 p.m. ET on CBS in a campaign cycle where abortion could swing the election.