Mike Pence served as the 48th Vice President of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he was previously the 50th Governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017, and a member of the House of Representatives from Indiana from 2001 to 2013.

Pence has consistently articulated views aligned with the Christian right, and in his 2016 acceptance speech for his nomination as the Republican Party's candidate for vice president, Pence stated that he is a "Christian, a conservative, and Republican, in that order".

Abortion, sex education, and stem cell research

Pence is an opponent of abortion, and his unwavering support of abortion restrictions has gained him the support of grassroots conservative activists.Monica Davey and Michael Barbaro. "How Mike Pence Became a Conservative Hero: Unwavering Opposition to Abortion". New York Times, July 16, 2016. He began seeking to defund Planned Parenthood in 2007 and in three congressional sessions, he introduced legislation to block organizations that provide abortion services from receiving any Title X funding, even for services not related to reproductive health or family planning. Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser has praised Pence as a "pro-life trailblazer".

Pence has criticized comprehensive sex education. In 2002, he criticized a speech by then-secretary of state Colin Powell, who had said it was "important for young people... to protect themselves from the possibility of acquiring any sexually transmitted disease" through the use of condoms. Pence called Powell's comments a "sad day" and expressed his support for abstinence education. He asserted that "condoms are a very, very poor protection against sexually transmitted diseases" and that Powell was "maybe inadvertently misleading millions of young people and endangering lives" despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assessment that when properly used they offer effective protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

Pence opposed president Barack Obama's executive order eliminating restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research, saying: "I believe it is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for research... I believe it is morally wrong to take the tax dollars of millions of pro-life Americans." He asserted that "scientific breakthroughs have rendered embryonic stem-cell research obsolete."

On January 27, 2017, Pence spoke at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., becoming the first vice president of the United States, and at the time, the highest-ranking U.S. official to ever speak at the annual event, until president Donald Trump spoke at the event in 2020.

Pence said in 2018 he supported an overturn of Roe v. Wade, but denied U.S. Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh was nominated for that purpose. During the 2020 vice presidential debate, when moderator Susan Page asked what he would want states to do if Roe were overturned, Pence refused to endorse criminalizing abortion, instead simply referring to himself as "pro-life".

The day the Supreme Court overturned Roe in June 2022, Pence told Breitbart News: "Roe v. Wade has been consigned to the ash heap of history...Having been given this second chance for life, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land."

Social views

Race

During Juneteenth Day of 2020, a television journalist asked Pence if he would say the words Black Lives Matter. Pence replied that all lives matter. He added that no significant U.S. group would disagree, as he saw it, about "the preciousness and importance of every human life". Pence denounced the police abolition movement when speaking to a police union rally in Philadelphia in July 2020, commenting how "we also don't need to choose between supporting our police and supporting African American families here in Philadelphia or anywhere in America. We can do both. We have done both."

LGBT rights Pence has been a staunch opponent of efforts to expand LGBT civil rights, during both his governorship and his tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2000, his congressional campaign website said, "Congress should oppose any effort to recognize homosexuals as a "discrete and insular minority" entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities." Also included on his website was a call for "an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus" and instead advocated that "Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior." Some LGBT rights advocates have cited this as evidence of Pence endorsing conversion therapy, a charge he denies.

In 2007, Pence voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have banned workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Pence opposed the 2009 Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, saying that Obama wanted to "advance a radical social agenda" and said that pastors "could be charged or be subject to intimidation for simply expressing a Biblical worldview on the issue of homosexual behavior." In 2009, Pence claimed that there was "no evidence of any hate crimes occurring against individuals for gender identity."

Pence has said that homosexuals should not serve in the military, saying, "Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion." Pence opposed the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell", saying in 2010 that allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military would "have an impact on unit cohesion".

Pence opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions. While in the House, he said that "societal collapse was always brought about following an advent of the deterioration of marriage and family." He has advocated a constitutional same-sex marriage ban but did not champion such a proposed ban for his first year as governor.

In March 2019, former vice president Joe Biden referred to Pence as "a decent guy" during a speech at the University of Nebraska Omaha, a month before Biden announced his 2020 presidential campaign. LGBT groups, progressive leaders and celebrities strongly criticized him, with Cynthia Nixon, an actress and candidate in the 2018 New York gubernatorial election, chastising Biden on Twitter, to which Biden responded by apologizing and criticizing Pence's stance on LGBT rights. Nixon later penned an op-ed in The Washington Post calling Pence "insidious and dangerous" for his actions on LGBT rights, claiming about Biden's comments that "it's easy to say nice things about Pence when you're not personally threatened by his agenda. If Biden were being directly attacked in the same way that our community is, I think he would see Pence from a very different vantage point."

Economic policy

Pence was a co-sponsor of a 2011 spending limit amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was introduced by Michigan U.S. representative Justin Amash. The amendment proposed limiting federal spending to "the average annual revenue collected in the three prior years, adjusted in proportion to changes in population and inflation". In regards to adopting the gold standard, Pence said in 2011, "the time has come to have a debate over gold and the proper role it should play in our nation's monetary affairs."

Pence proposed legislation to end the dual mandate of the Federal Reserve (maximizing employment and stabilizing prices), requiring the Fed to just focus on price stability and not full employment. He has been a proponent of a flat federal tax rate. Pence opposed the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008. Pence also opposed the automotive industry rescue package of 2008–2009, which guided General Motors and Chrysler through bankruptcy.

In 2007, Pence voted against raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years, saying it would "hurt the working poor". While in the House, Pence voted against the Employee Free Choice Act ("card check"). He voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. He had publicly opposed the bill, denouncing it as a failure, and called for a federal spending freeze. Nevertheless, several months after voting against the bill, Pence privately sought $6million in stimulus funds for projects in his district, and in 2010, hosted a job fair for stimulus-backed employers. A Pence spokesperson said that "once it became law, he had a responsibility to support local efforts to secure funding for projects that could benefit people in his district." Pence voted against the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Pence was a supporter of earmark reform. He voted against the $139.7billion Transportation–Treasury spending bill in June 2006, and in favor of a series of amendments proposed that same month by Jeff Flake which would strip other members' earmarks from the federal budget. On occasion, however, Pence secured earmarks for projects in his district.

Social Security

Pence supported president George W. Bush's unsuccessful 2005 proposal to partially privatize Social Security by allowing workers to invest part of their Social Security payroll taxes in private investment accounts and reduce the increase in benefits for high-income participants. Pence had previously proposed a similar but more aggressive reform plan than Bush's.

When asked in 2010 if he would be willing to make cuts to Social Security, Pence answered, "I think everything has to be on the table." When asked if he would raise the retirement age, he said, "I'm an all-of-the-above guy. We need look at everything on the menu."

Health care

Pence voted against the act that created Medicare Part D (a prescription drug benefit) and against the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In June 2012, after the Supreme Court upheld the ACA in NFIB v. Sebelius, Pence likened the ruling to the September 11 attacks in a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference. He immediately apologized for making the statement.

Pence wrote an article that appeared on his 2000 congressional campaign website arguing against the tobacco settlement and tobacco regulation, saying they would create "new government bureaucracies" and encroach on private lives. He wrote, "despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill." Pence asserted, "two out of every three smokers not die from a smoking related illness and nine out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer," while acknowledging that "smoking isn't good for you" and people who smoke should quit. In fact, smoking-related deaths comprise two out of three among those who smoke, twice as high as Pence claimed.'kills two in three smokers', BBC News, Michelle Roberts, February 24, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2020. In 2009, Pence voted against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which allows the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco products. According to the CDC, Pence's state of Indiana has one of the worst smoking problems in America.