(PresidentialWire.com)- As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case revolving around Mississippi’s state law that limits abortions, former Vice President Mike Pence gave remarks to the National Press Club about why he believes the high court should overturn the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
The Hill obtained the prepared remarks Pence was giving on Tuesday, saying the Roe decision was “misguided,” and that the Supreme Court had the chance to “make history” by reversing that decision.
In the prepared remarks, Pence said:
“We are asking the Court, in no uncertain terms, to make history. We are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v. Wade and restore the sanctity of human life to the center of American law.”
The case is named Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It was filed as a challenge to the abortion law in Mississippi, which bans all abortion after 15 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.
The law in question is called the Gestational Age Act, which was passed back in 2018. Two federal courts have thus far blocked the law, but Mississippi has appealed those decisions all the way to the highest court in the country.
Abortions after those first 15 weeks under the law are allowed “only in medical emergencies or for severe fetal abnormality.” There are no exceptions available for incest or rape, which are typically in a state’s abortion laws.
If a doctor is found to violate the law, he or she could face fines and penalties, including having their medical license either suspended or either revoked altogether.
The decision in Roe v. Wade have said that abortions are allowed throughout the country up to roughly 23 weeks of pregnancy, when a fetus is considered viable.
In a court filing back in July, Lynn Fitch, the Republican attorney general in Mississippi, argued that the Supreme Court should ultimately reverse its Roe decision.
Pence planned to argue in his remarks that the landmark decision has “inflicted a tragedy not only on our nation, but on humanity, that is hard to fathom.”
The prepared remarks showed that Pence planned to make a reference to other countries such as Spain and France that have abortion restrictions on procedures that happen beyond 14 weeks of pregnancy. There are some exceptions that are allowed in those countries.
Pence also planned to argue that abortion laws that are written by states and not the federal government better reflected the view of the local public — especially since they are written by elected officials instead of by appointed judges.
In those public remarks, Pence said:
“When the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade — and I believe with all my heart that day will come, either now or in the near future — it will not come as a surprise to anyone. It will simply be the culmination of a 50-year journey whose course and destination have been set by the will of the American people.”
