'Women are not stupid': Warren criticizes Vance after he says Trump would veto national abortion ban

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticized Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, on Sunday over his claim that former President Donald Trump would veto a federal abortion ban if elected president.

“American women are not stupid,” Warren said during an interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press." “We’re not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion.”

Vance, who is the GOP vice-presidential nominee, suggested earlier in the program that Trump would veto a federal abortion ban, stressing that Trump prefers to leave the issue to the states.

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“I think he would,” Vance said when asked if Trump would reject a nationwide ban. “He’s said that explicitly that he would.”

Warren, like many of the Republican ticket's critics, wasn't buying it. She argued that even if Trump doesn’t sign a federal ban, that the former president would still restrict abortion rights. Warren pointed to the Comstock Act, a century-old law banning the mailing of abortion-related materials, which some Republicans have hinted could be revived to restrict abortion nationwide.

“Don’t buy it? Just read it,” Warren said. “JD Vance actually sent a letter last year to the Department of Justice saying, enforce the Comstock Act. And remember he did that, and then Donald Trump picked him to be his vice president.”

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Trump in recent months has repeatedly said he believes each state should set their own abortion rights or restrictions. However, the former president has often celebrated his three Supreme Court appointees who were instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade. Vance has previously said he would be open to a national abortion ban.

Warren on Sunday urged voters to support candidates who would pass legislation to restore abortion rights nationwide.

"The only way that we’re going to protect access to abortion is to have a Democratic Congress send a bill to Kamala Harris, she will sign it into law, and then we will restore a right to half the population in this country, she said. "No longer will a woman have to go into an emergency room and be told she’s not near enough death to get the medical treatment that she needs."

Jeremy Yurow is a politics reporting fellow based in Hawaii for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter @JeremyYurow

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warren hits Vance after he says Trump would veto national abortion ban