Vance says Trump wouldn't ban abortion pill days after Trump indicated he would be open to it

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance on Sunday sought to walk back former President Donald Trump’s recent comments suggesting that he is open to banning access to mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medication abortions.

In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the Ohio Republican was asked whether a Trump-Vance administration would use the Food and Drug Administration to block access to mifepristone.

“Well, no,” he said. “What the president has said very clearly is that abortion policy should be made by the states, right? You of course want to make sure that any medicine is safe and it’s prescribed in the right way, and so forth.”

Vance said Trump wants individual states and voters in those states to make decisions on abortion policies and for the federal government to respect those decisions.

He added that Trump has “consistently” said the party needs “to get out of the culture war side of the abortion issue.”

Asked by NBC News during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort last week whether he would take steps such as directing the FDA to revoke access to mifepristone, Trump said, “You could do things that ... would supplement — absolutely — those things are pretty open and humane.”

“There are many things on a humane basis that you can do outside of that,” the former president added, saying “you also have to give a vote” to people about abortion.

Trump’s comments on Thursday contrasted with his remarks on the abortion pill during a CNN debate in June in which he said he would “not block it.”

Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, later clarified to NBC News that Trump has long held the “position of supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion.”