Vance knocks Beshear over pregnancy from rape remark

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) accused Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) of wishing harm to one of his family members over a pregnancy from rape remark he made Tuesday — an accusation that Beshear later pushed back on.

In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Beshear criticized Republicans for using “fear tactics” in their messaging on abortion before he referenced a previous comment made by Vance during his 2021 run for Senate.

“JD Vance calls pregnancy resulting from rape ‘inconvenient.’ Inconvenience is traffic. I mean, it is, make him go through this,” Beshear said Tuesday. “It is someone being violated, someone being harmed, and then telling them that they don’t have options after that, that fails any test of decency, of humanity.”

Beshear appeared to be referencing 2021 comments made by Vance when he was asked whether there should be exceptions for rape and incest in abortion cases.

“It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term,” Vance said, but “whether a child should be allowed to live even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to society.”

Vance later reposted a clip of Beshear’s comments on social platform X, accusing him of wishing one of his family members was raped.

“What the hell is this? Why is @AndyBeshearKY wishing that a member of my family would get raped?!? What a disgusting person,” Vance wrote on X.

Vance’s communications director, William Martin, also issued a statement slamming Beshear’s comments on Tuesday.

“His comments are disgusting, vile, and should not be tolerated in American politics. We call on Kamala Harris to immediately repudiate Governor Beshear’s comments and demonstrate that regardless of partisan disagreements, this kind of violent rhetoric has no place in our public discourse,” he continued.

Beshear later responded to Vance’s attacks on him, telling MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that he was “of course” not wishing harm on Vance’s family. He said it was a way for Vance to make himself and former President Trump the “victims.”

“It’s ridiculous, but it’s also deflection. JD Vance knows that he and Donald Trump are so wrong on this issue, and so he’s trying to make himself the victim,” Beshear said, noting that the reproductive-rights advocates who spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Monday were victims.

“As a man, JD Vance will never have to face any of this personally, but it’s sad that he lacks the empathy to be able to put himself in a different position and to understand why having exceptions, having reproductive freedom, is so important in the first place,” he added. “Obviously, I never wish harm on anyone. It [is] just again, deflection, trying to make himself and Donald Trump the victims.”

The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign and Beshear’s office for comment.