Vance claims social conservatives will always 'have a seat' in GOP during discussion of faith
Vance has drawn criticism from some pro-life groups after stating he supported access to the abortion pill mifepristone
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Thursday spoke about his personal experiences with Christianity and the importance of social conservatism.
Vance gave a speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's God & Country Breakfast, where he attempted to quell concerns that the Republican Party is drifting away from religious and socially conservative voters.
"There has been a lot of rumbling in the past few weeks that the Republican Party of now and the Republican Party of the future is not going to be a place that's welcoming to social conservatives. And really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say that is not true," Vance told the audience.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vance (R-OH) speaks at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s "God & Country Breakfast" at the Pfister Hotel, on July 18, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
He added, "Social conservatives have a seat at this table, and they always will, so long as I have any influence in this party. And President Trump, I know, agrees."
The Republican Party has softened many of the social policy pillars within its platform, including the traditionally sacrosanct issue of abortion.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The platform, drafted by the former president and his top aides, was passed on Monday by a committee dominated by Trump supporters, which met behind closed doors in Milwaukee ahead of next week's Republican National Convention.
The platform, titled "America First: A Return to Common Sense," is the GOP's first in eight years, as the 2016 document was duplicated in 2020. Following Trump's lead, the document spotlights that abortion is best handled by the states. However, for the first time in 40 years, the document makes no mention of a federal abortion ban, which the presumptive GOP presidential nominee has emphasized that he opposes.
SOFTENED ABORTION LANGUAGE IN TRUMP-APPROVED GOP PLATFORM IRKS SOME SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vance, who gave a speech at the Republican National Convention the night before, headlined the conservative political advocacy group's breakfast. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Instead, the new platform stresses, "We will oppose late-term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control, and IVF (fertility treatments)."
The commitment to IVF accessibility also raised eyebrows, as the practice usually requires the destruction of fertilized human embryos.
Vance himself caused an uproar in pro-life circles last week after saying in an interview with "Meet the Press" that he supports the abortion pill mifepristone "being accessible" after the Supreme Court ruled against pro-life advocates who sued to end its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
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Trump and Vance applaud on Day 2 of the Republican National Convention (RNC), at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (REUTERS/Callaghan O'hare)
Vance's stance also shocked Catholic groups, since the potential vice-president converted to the faith only a few years ago.
While failing to address∂ the abortion pill issue during his speech, Vance did offer personal testimony to the audience about his reconversion to Christianity after years of atheism.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"What really brought me back to Christ was finding a wife and falling in love and thinking about what was required of me as a husband and as a father," Vance said. "And the more that I thought about those deeper questions, the more that I thought that there was wisdom in the Christian faith that I had completely discarded and completely ignored, but was most relevant to the questions that were presented in my life as a husband and father."
Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.