A few weeks ago, after the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that would have required doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, Joe Biden made an outlandish claim that he supports abortion “under any circumstance.”
Biden was once a self-proclaimed “pro-life Democrat,” and in the 2012 election, he even claimed himself to be, “Personally opposed to the procedure” but wouldn’t prevent women from making that “choice.” Since then, his stance on abortion has become much more extreme. In a press release asking about his views on the recent Supreme Court ruling, Biden said, “Women’s health care rights have been under attack as states across the country have passed extreme laws restricting women’s constitutional right to choice under any circumstance…Today the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that states cannot put in place laws that unduly burden a woman’s right to make her own health care decision with her doctor.”
In this statement, Biden is not just saying that abortion is necessary in some circumstances, or that he thinks it is acceptable sometimes. Rather, he is giving abortion providers free reign and his approval to go ahead with whatever abortions they want to perform whenever they believe it best to perform them. He’s slowly shifting to a radical positions pro-choicers are starting to gravitate towards: abortion acceptable even until birth!
This is not the first time Biden has switched his leanings on abortion access. In 2019, Biden reversed his support for the Hyde amendment, a legislative provision which would restrict the use of federal funds to pay for abortions. He said, “I can’t justify leaving millions of women without the health care they need… If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support [the amendment].”
The process of Joe Biden becoming very openly pro-choice was not an immediate change, but has happened slowly over the past few years. Now there is no denying that he is fully pro-choice, in which case pro-lifers cannot in good conscience vote for Biden in this upcoming election.