Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance said Sunday that Donald Trump will not support a national abortion ban and would veto any attempt at it if elected president in November, noting that Trump supports the right of individual states to decide.

The comments come after the Democratic Convention directed harsh criticism on former president Trump for what they called his role in appointing the judges that overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion in the US.

Following the overturning of Roe in 2022, Trump initially stated that he would support a 15-week ban with several exceptions, but eventually shifted away and said that it was up to the states to decide through voting, legislation, or a combination of both, as to what happens to abortion rights. At the time, Trump emphasized that whatever decision states make should be the law of the land within their territory.

Vance’s statement was criticized by several conservative and anti-abortion groups. Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, expressed disapproval on how the “once pro-life” Republican party has turned. However, the statement also drew doubts from top Democrats, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) saying, “American women are not stupid.”

In 2022, the Supreme Court held in the landmark decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the US Constitution does not grant a right to abortion, overturning Roe (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). The decision gave the right to regulate abortion that is not protected by federal statutory law to individual states.

Following the decision, several states introduced abortion restrictions, particularly in the South, and President Joe Biden issued an executive order to safeguard access to abortion, emergency care, and access to contraception.