Vance was asked by the New York Times to respond to comments he made in 2022 that he’d “like abortion to be illegal nationally.” He didn’t deny making the comments, though, saying he didn’t have “the podcast in front of me,” but said his views have evolved since then.

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“When the Supreme Court threw this back primarily to the states, what all Republicans should have learned is when you see people voting, sometimes even people who describe themselves as pro-life, voting for increased access to abortion, the conclusion that we should take from that is we’ve lost the trust of the American people,” said Vance.

Vance pointed to Ohio’s abortion referendum during last year’s election when voters approved a constitutional amendment ensuring access to abortion as an example.

“I think the proper thing to take from that is we have lost the trust of the American people,” said the Ohio senator. “When we went out there and campaigned for our position, they instinctively mistrusted us, and we need to get trust back.”

But Vance also reiterated his claims from his vice presidential debate against Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) that the GOP needs to be the “pro-family party” as it seeks to win over women voters and convince them to “choose life.”

“I think that we want to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word. We want to promote more people choosing life,” he said when asked about where the Republican ticket stands on abortion. “But I think that there has to be a balance here. A balance between states that are making their own abortion policies.”

Vance claimed that he had never supported a national abortion ban but would support a 15-week ban.

“What I did, to be clear, in my Senate campaign, is I endorsed the Lindsey Graham bill that had exceptions, and that would have, after a threshold, I think it was 15 weeks with reasonable exceptions, that’s a reasonable place to kind of draw the line,” he explained.

Repeatedly, Vance stated that he and Trump support leaving abortion access to individual states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a stance that is likely to upset conservative activists who support a federal abortion ban.

The Democratic ticket led by Vice President Kamala Harris has made abortion a key campaign issue that has helped gain the party a lead among women voters, in particular Gen Z women.

Vance was also asked about his infamous “childless cat ladies” comments and how childless women fit into his view of society.

“They were dumb comments. I think most people probably have said something dumb, have said something that they wish they had put differently,” he first responded. “I said it a couple of times in a couple of interviews, and look, I certainly wish that I had said it differently.”

Vance claimed his original remarks were not meant for people who are unable to conceive but as a statement on how the nation “has become almost pathologically anti-child.”

The senator relayed an anecdotal story about witnessing a black mother who patiently dealt with her children‘s antics while riding the train to the annoyance of fellow passengers.

“And that was a moment that stuck with me, and of course I’ve had similar experiences riding with my own kids on various modes of public transportation, and again it just sort of hit me like, OK, this is really, really bad,” said Vance. “I do think that there’s this pathological frustration with children that just is a new thing in American society. I think it’s very dark.”

Vance stated it was “deranged” and “a bizarre way of thinking about the future” and that some have said it isn’t wise to have children due to fears over the consequences of climate change.

“You know, when I’ve used this word sociopathic? Like, that, I think, is a very deranged idea: The idea that you shouldn’t have a family because of concerns over climate change,” said Vance. “Doesn’t mean you can’t worry about climate change, but in the focus on childless cat ladies, we missed the substance of what I said.”

But Vance declined to criticize Harris, who is a stepmother to her husband’s two children, for not having biological children.

“Everything that I know about Kamala Harris, that I’ve learned about Kamala Harris, is that she’s got a stepfamily, she’s got an extended family, she’s a very good stepmother to her stepchildren,” he said. “I would never accuse Kamala Harris along these lines.”