Fox News Host Confronts Mike Pence With Polling Against His Abortion Stance

Former Vice President Mike Pence was confronted on Sunday by a Fox News host about low polling when it comes to anti-abortion policies.

Pence, who served as vice president from 2017 to 2021 under former President Donald Trump, is among the increasingly packed field of candidates currently running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. While ahead of most other candidates, Pence's support in recent polling has fallen well short of other frontrunners in the race.

According to a recent NBC News national poll, Trump's reelection bid remains the ticket to beat in 2024 with 51 percent support as of June. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailed in second place with 22 percent support while Pence came in third with 7 percent.

During a recent appearance on Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream asked Pence about the consistently low polling of GOP anti-abortion policies a year on from the reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. As a devout Christian, Pence has consistently taken strong oppositional stances to abortion in his political career and has put the issue at the forefront of his 2024 campaign.

During the interview, Bream presented Pence with a USA Today poll, which found a majority opposition to a nationwide abortion ban across almost every demographic, including 65 percent from Republicans and 83 percent from independents. Pence, in response, claimed that the end of Roe gave Americans "a new beginning" and praised state governments that have passed further abortion restrictions.

"I think it's imperative, not only as this primary campaign begins, but as men and women step forward for office in the Republican Party all across the country, that we speak with clarity about a commitment to the sanctity of life, that we make it clear that we'll stand on principle, but that we'll also stand with compassion...," Pence said. "I think we need to bring a message of grace, we need a message of kindness. We need to come alongside women in crisis pregnancies. That's how we're going to win hearts and minds."

According to the BBC, Pence has recently backed the idea of a minimum nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, or at roughly the point when the second trimester is beginning. He has challenged other candidates in the 2024 GOP field to back the idea as well.

Numerous Republican-controlled states in the country have passed highly restrictive abortion bans following the end of Roe, with some banning the procedure after six weeks, a point at which most women still cannot tell they are pregnant, and others making exceptions only for the life of the mother or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for a response to Pence's comments.