Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance argued Tuesday during the only vice presidential debate and, It’s no wonder they were miles apart when it came to abortion and immigration policy.
Here’s what both vice presidential candidates had to say about the two most pressing issues in this election and how they relate to their campaign policies.
Miscarriage
Walz talked about how to do this Amanda Żurawski was denied an abortion in Texas despite health complications during pregnancy and what a then 12-year-old girl from Kentucky became pregnant and had a miscarriage after she was raped by her stepfather.
Vance acknowledged that his party needs to do a better job of talking to women about abortion and said abortion policies across the country should vary from state to state.
Danielle Bessett, who co-chairs the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network (OPEN), was glad to see the candidates discuss the impact of abortion bans after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, which left abortion up to each state.
“Research clearly shows that abortion bans harm individuals and communities, so regardless of who is in office and what policies are promised during election season, it is truly significant that people have quick, safe and sound and stigma-free access to abortion care. Besset said.
Former President Donald Trump’s exact policy on abortion is unclear.
“I haven’t seen a completely consistent position between them,” Bessett said. “I think the Republican perspective on this issue has changed a lot and may be quite uncertain, and the uncertainty is based on the concept of constraints.”
During Tuesday’s debate, Vance mentioned “setting some minimum national standards” on abortion and previously expressed support for a bill to ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks. In 2022, Vance supported a nationwide abortion ban without exception, but has since been less involved.
“A minimum national standard is one that would be of great concern to me,” Bessett said. “Given our research in Ohio, we know that physicians in Ohio hospitals were often unsure of what actions they could take in emergency situations.”
During the debate, Trump wrote on Twitter how he “would under no circumstances support a federal abortion ban and in fact would veto it because it’s up to the states to decide based on the will of the voters.”
While it didn’t come up during the vice presidential debate, Trump has expressed his openness before ban on access to mifepristoneone of two drugs used in medical abortion.
Bessett worries what the mifepristone ban will mean, in particular, for rural Ohioans who can receive the drug via telehealth.
“Telehealth provides a tremendous benefit to rural residents who otherwise may not have access to health care, and in the event the Trump administration decides to ban or restrict mifepristone, it would be a real hardship for Ohioans,” she said.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz talked about restoring Roe v. Wade protections.
“If Harris and Walz were elected, we would expect federal policy to be largely consistent with what voters passed in terms of a constitutional amendment to protect access to abortion in Ohio,” Bessett said.
Last year, 57% of Ohioans voted to include reproductive rights in the state constitution.
Immigration
During Tuesday’s debate, the issue of immigration was discussed a lot, but “The conversation about immigration seems disconnected from reality,” he said César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, Gregory Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at The Ohio State University.
Vance claimed that illegal immigrants had filled Springfield’s schools, hospitals and apartments, but… local officials rejected his characterization.
Haitian migrants in Springfield are in the country legally and have Temporary Protected Status. During the debate, Walz recalled Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine saying that Haitians in Springfield were in the United States legally.
“When we start talking about it, we dehumanize and denigrate other people,” he added. Walz said during the debate.
In September, Trump told reporters he would carry out “the largest deportation in the history of our country.”
But asked twice during Tuesday’s debate whether they would deport parents who entered the U.S. illegally and separate them from their U.S.-born children, Vance did not answer the question.
“We should expect that there will be significant resistance during (Trump’s) second term from supporters as well as state and local officials and governments across much of the United States, so the deportation campaign model… we will have to rely heavily on state government resources and local ones controlled by Republicans,” he added. Hernandez said.
Vance also suggested that migrants were responsible for bringing fentanyl into the United States, which is untrue. ABOUT 86% of people According to data from the United States Sentencing Commission, those convicted of fentanyl trafficking were US citizens.
“Drug cartels are basically not shipping fentanyl in the backpacks that people are bringing across the southern border.” Hernandez said. “Fentanyl is undoubtedly a huge problem in the United States, but the problem with migrants is not that drugs are coming through ports of entry.”
According to her political issues, Harris would sign a bipartisan border security bill that would add 1,500 fresh Border Patrol agents.
“What this means is that it will somehow prevent people from coming into the United States illegally,” Hernández said. “It is not clear to me what the basis for such a conclusion is.”
The National Border Patrol Council approved the legislation, but Senate Republicans voted against it earlier this year Trump urged them to vote no this, trying to exploit border security during the campaign.
Follow the OCJ reporter Megan Henry on X
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