Pence blasts Trump's 'slap in the face' announcement on key issue for Christian voters

Former Vice President Mike Pence is taking aim at his two-time running mate over his long-awaited announcement on abortion.

Pence charged on Monday that former President Trump's decision not to support a federal ban on abortion is a "retreat on the Right to Life" and "a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans."

The former vice president's statement came a couple hours after Trump took credit for the decision two years ago by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion nationwide.

But Trump declined to support the push by social conservatives to ban abortion at the federal level and emphasized his support for states determining their own laws for abortion so long as there are exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.

WHAT TRUMP SAID IN HIS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ABORTION ANNOUNCEMENT

"The states will determine by vote, or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land – in this case, the law of the state," Trump said in video posted on social media. "Many states will be different. Many states will have a different number of weeks… at the end of the day it is all about the will of the people."

WHAT TOP REPUBLICANS ARE SAYING ABOUT TRUMP'S ABORTION ANNOUNCEMENT

Pence, who's long been a champion for evangelical voters, pushed for a federal abortion ban last year as he ran for the Republican presidential nomination, as part of a field of roughly a dozen GOP candidates who unsuccessfully challenged Trump.

In a statement on social media, Pence argued, "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.