by Nicole Silverio
Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear suggested Tuesday that a family member of Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance would be raped and impregnated in an attempt to undermine the Ohio senator’s stance on abortion.
Beshear accused Vance of suggesting that pregnancies resulting from rape are “uncomfortable” on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and said Vance should experience the trauma of being raped and impregnated by a family member. Beshear said Vance and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cannot represent all Americans because their positions on abortion suggest they lack empathy.
“J.D. Vance sees pregnancy as an inconvenience. Like traffic is an inconvenience. Make him go through that,” Beshear said. “I mean, someone is raped, someone is hurt, and then they’re told they have no options. That doesn’t pass any test of decency, of humanity. But the thing is, it also shows they have no empathy. And the president and the vice president have to have empathy. You have to be able to put yourself in a situation that you’ve never been in to try to understand someone else, because you have to be the president and the vice president for all of America.”
Democratic governor dismissively suggests Vance family member was impregnated in rape, trying to undermine his stance on abortion photo:twitter.com/K33yoykj1c
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 20, 2024
Vance, in a statement on Channel “X” regarding the remark, called the Kentucky governor a “disgusting person.”
“What the hell is this? Why @AndyBeshearKY wish someone in my family was raped?!? What a disgusting person,” Vance said.
What the hell is this?
Why is it @AndyBeshearKY I wish someone in my family was raped?!?
What a disgusting person. https://t.co/11Kp1h92MN
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 20, 2024
Vance communications director William Martin called Beshear’s remarks “disgusting,” “disgusting” and unacceptable.
“After speaking on the DNC main stage last night, Harris’ campaign surrogate, Gov. Andy Beshear, went on national television this morning and explicitly called for a family member of Senator Vance to be raped,” Martin said. “His comments are disgusting, vile, and should not be tolerated in American politics. We call on Kamala Harris to immediately repudiate Gov. Beshear’s comments and show that regardless of partisan disagreements, this type of aggressive rhetoric has no place in our public discourse.”
Former Ohio Democratic congressman Tim Ryan accused Vance for being too extreme on abortion, citing the case of a 10-year-old victim raped by an illegal immigrant who he escaped Ohio to obtain an abortion. Vance disputed those allegations during a 2022 debate, saying the 10-year-old in question should be able to obtain an abortion “if she and her family choose to do so.”
“I’ve said publicly many times that I think this girl should be able to have an abortion if she and her family choose to. But let’s talk about this case, because why was a 10-year-old girl from our community raped in our state? … The thing they never mention is that this poor girl was raped by an illegal immigrant, someone who should not have been in this state in the first place.”
JD Vance responds to Tim Ryan’s criticism of his stance on abortion:
“Why a 10-year-old girl was raped in our community…the thing they never mention is that this poor girl was raped by an illegal immigrant.” photo: twitter.com/j2ImYbmt6w
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 11, 2022
Vance said in 2021. interview that no child should be perceived as an “obstacle” regardless of the circumstances of his or her birth.
“My view on this issue has been very clear, and I think the question betrays an assumption that is flawed,” Vance said in 2021. “The question is not whether a woman should be forced to bear a child, the question is whether a child should be allowed to live, even if the circumstances of its birth are in some way inconvenient or a problem for society. The question is really about the child.”
He he said Fox News’ Sean Hannity said Democrats have “turned a corner” [his] “words”, in which he argued that he wanted to change the social perception of babies as something troublesome.
Beshear’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Nicole Silverio is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Andy BeShear” by MSNBC Station
