Mike Pence: For sanctity of life, Trump must pick next Supreme Court justice

This weekend, Indiana Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence once again cited preborn lives as one of the most important causes at stake in November’s presidential election.

“For the sake of the sanctity of life, we must ensure Donald Trump selects the next Supreme Court justice,” Pence said at a Virginia campaign rally at Patrick Henry College, where he was introduced by Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List.

Since agreeing to become Donald Trump’s running mate, the solidly pro-life governor has made it a recurring point to win over pro-life voters with lingering doubts over Trump’s pro-abortion past.

Trump has pledged to appoint pro-life, originalist jurists to the federal bench, and released a list of preferred Supreme Court nominees that gained wide praise in pro-life circles.

The death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February intensified the Supreme Court as an issue in the 2016 election, ensuring that the next president’s replacement will either preserve the narrow 5-4 split between judicial activists who would uphold Roe v. Wade and originalists who would end it, or make pro-lifers a minority of three on the Court.

Beyond that, the next president could well decide whether 83-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 80-year-old Antony Kennedy, and 78-year-old Stephen Breyer are replaced by pro-life jurists or younger abortion defenders who would remain on the Supreme Court for decades to come.