Prompted by right-wing radio host, JD Vance linked Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott decision allowing slavery

Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Sen. JD Vance appeared on an anti-abortion right-wing radio program. After the host compared the decision to overturning precedent in Brown v. Board of Education, Vance took the comparison further, likening Roe to Dred Scott, the infamous pro-slavery decision that ruled that Black people were not citizens. In doing so, Vance grouped the two rulings as examples of overturned decisions that “just don't make any sense anymore.”

Comparing abortion to slavery has been a consistent theme among right-wing media figures for years, as Media Matters has documented. Vance himself is an author who has worked as a commentator.

This is not the first time that Vance has appeared in conservative media and compared abortion to slavery. During an October 2021 interview with The Catholic Current, a show that opposes abortion, Vance said that “there’s something comparable between abortion and slavery, and that while the people who obviously suffer the most are those subjected to it, I think it has this morally distorting effect on the entire society.”

Vance appeared on the July 7, 2022, edition of The Bruce Hooley Show in Columbus, Ohio. Hooley is a right-wing broadcaster who has said: “The LGBTQ movement is awful for families, for kids. Abortion is a heinous evil. So those are things that I talk about. I don’t make any bones about where I stand on those issues.”

The appearance occurred shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. During the interview, Hooley mentioned Supreme Court “precedent” and then said, “The conversation about precedent, they never talk about the 58 year overturn of precedent by Brown versus Board of Education that outlawed racial segregation. So I don't think they wanna be in the business of advocating that anything that's been in law for 50 years remains in law forever.”

Vance replied: “Yeah. Of course. You know, Dred Scott, one of the famous pro-slavery decisions by the Supreme Court. I don't think anybody wants that to remain law. So I do think that we look at these decisions very often and we say, look, these things just don't make any sense anymore.” He added: “So, yeah, this is ultimately — this is a good thing.”

JD Vance compares Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott decision allowing slavery

July 7, 2022

From the July 7, 2022, edition of WTOH's The Bruce Hooley Show

BRUCE HOOLEY: You know, really, if liberals would stop throwing their tantrum and would look at it, the Supreme Court and its makeup doesn't change very often. These are lifetime appointments. The politics of an individual state are certainly much more fluid. So it could be viewed, and I did see one liberal commentator portray it as such, that this actually gives those who are pro-abortion a better chance to move a state legislature to their position. Of course, they love the fact that for the past 50 years, the Supreme Court has been with them. I find it interesting. And as a Yale Law graduate, you might as well. The conversation about precedent, they never talk about the 58 year overturn of precedent by Brown versus Board of Education that outlawed racial segregation. So I don't think they wanna be in the business of advocating that anything that's been in law for 50 years remains in law forever.

JD VANCE: Yeah. Of course. You know, Dred Scott, one of the famous pro-slavery decisions by the Supreme Court, I don't think anybody wants that to remain law. So I do think that we look at these decisions very often and we say, look, these things just don't make any sense anymore. They haven't held up very well. They haven't solved the problem they were meant to solve. They don't comport with the Constitution, obviously. That's the most important thing that very few people talk about. So, yeah, this is ultimately — this is a good thing.

And I do think the Democrat, the mistake that they're going to make here is they're gonna try to make the election all about abortion when, one, a lot of people disagree with them on abortion. That goes back to my point about not being defensive. And two, no amount of distraction is going to take away from the fact that if you're trying to raise a family in the Joe Biden economy, your situation is a disaster.

Prompted by right-wing radio host, JD Vance linked Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott decision allowing slavery

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JD Vance