Former vice president Mike Pence will urge the pro-life community on Wednesday night to "stay the course" in its fight against abortion, saying the end goal must be to make abortion not only illegal in America, but also "unthinkable."
In Pence’s first public address since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the former vice president will call the Supreme Court decision a "turning point in American history," but stress that the fight has just begun as "new battlefields are emerging in every state in the land," according to a draft copy of the remarks obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
"In this rapidly changing post-Roe America, our job remains the same: to do all we can to end the culture of death, to restore a culture of life, and to return the sanctity of human life to the center of American law," Pence will say, according to the remarks.
The overturn of Roe changed the political landscape not only for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections, but also the highly anticipated Republican presidential primary in 2024. Pence, who has hinted at a 2024 presidential bid, will deliver his Wednesday night speech at the Florence Baptist Temple in South Carolina, one of the crucial early primary states.
Pence will highlight the successes of the Trump administration, calling it "the most pro-life administration in history." He also says he views his role "advising the president to select Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett," who all voted with the majority in the decision, as "one of the most significant events in my life."
The decision, which ended constitutional protection for abortion and returned regulation of the procedure to the states, launched a new fight to make abortion unthinkable by making it easier for mothers to choose life, according to Pence.
"Our goal should be not just to make abortion illegal, but totally unthinkable for every American citizen. In America, it shouldn’t be so hard to do the right thing," Pence will say. "We need to make it easier for every American to choose life."
Pence urges voters to elect pro-life leaders who can usher in a new pro-life beginning in America and enact policies which make choosing life easier for women, such as adoption reform and support for pregnancy resource centers. He also calls for new child support laws to ensure that fathers do their part to support their unborn children.
"We believe that life begins at conception—and so do a father’s responsibilities," Pence will say.
"I believe that if we save the babies, we will save our country," he says. "The pro-life cause is first and foremost a moral cause, but it must also be a national cause."