Welker requested once more, would Johnson maintain a vote on a nationwide abortion ban?
“We’re nowhere in a universe the place that may be doable proper now,” Johnson mentioned. “I’ve to construct a cultural consensus,” he continued, “there’s quite a lot of work to do.”
Johnson has, infamously, been doing this work for years.
As Self-importance Truthful’s Bess Levin has chronicled, when Roe v. Wade was overturned, Johnson called it “an awesome, joyous event.” His purpose for his house state of Louisiana, as he’s explained, is to “get the variety of abortions to ZERO!!” As a lawyer, he worked to close down abortion clinics, as a legislator, he cosponsored the “Life at Conception” invoice, which might drive being pregnant from the purpose of fertilization and included no exceptions for IVF, and, as a spiritual chief, he blamed college shootings, partly, on pregnant individuals gaining access to abortion care.
On Sunday, Johnson inspired anti-abortion organizations to maintain working towards a cultural consensus on the difficulty earlier than including, “We have to maintain these girls which might be in tough conditions with their pregnancies. That’s what the states are doing, very successfully. Disaster being pregnant facilities and others across the nation, care being pregnant facilities—there’s quite a lot of nice work being accomplished.”
Disaster being pregnant facilities are amenities that act as professional reproductive well being care clinics for pregnant individuals however, in follow, goal to dissuade individuals from accessing sure forms of care, like abortion and contraceptive choices. After Dobbs, “Tennessee boosted state help for disaster being pregnant facilities from $3 million to $20 million; Florida raised it from $4.5 million to $25 million, and Texas went from giving the teams $5 million each two years to giving a whopping $100 million for 2022 and 2023,” in keeping with Jessica Valenti’s new guide Abortion.
Watkins concluded the interview by asking if Johnson, who’s the second in line for the presidency, would settle for and certify the outcomes of the 2024 election—a job that Trump’s personal operating mate, JD Vance, has constantly refused to decide to.
“After all, I’m going to observe the Structure, I’m going to observe the regulation, that’s my job, my obligation. I took an oath to try this, and I’ll fulfill my oath,” Johnson mentioned.
“No matter who wins?” Welker clarified.
“After all, sure,” Johnson replied. “If,” he continued, “it’s free and honest.”
