BREAKING: Democrat Joe Biden announces he can no longer support the Hyde Amendment after getting attacked by Democrats over the last 24 hours for supporting it
He blames Republicans for his decision pic.twitter.com/vV1wTD3B3q
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 7, 2019
He supported not having abortions paid for by the government. Now he’s abandoning that position after being attacked by those further left.
Why this is especially ironic? Because CNN just wrote this article saying if he caves on his support of the Amendment what is the point of his candidacy?
(CNN)Joe Biden, while still enjoying his frontrunner status, is facing some challenges during this nascent Democratic primary.
They are unsurprising and often self-imposed.
There’s his plagiarism past, brought up again when it was discovered he (or his campaign) had lifted several passages from think tanks and other organizations for his new climate change plan. There’s his previous support for the now-controversial 1994 crime bill, which he’s still defending, despite progressives’ panning of the legislation, particularly because it contributed to the disproportionate incarceration of people of color.
And there’s his campaign aides’ awkward attempt to explain a 1987 gaffe resurrected by the New York Times — his claim that he marched during the Civil Rights movement when he most certainly did not.
And now there is abortion.When asked in a rope line if he’d repeal the Hyde Amendment, the 1976 measure that prohibits federal funding for abortion except in the case of rape, incest and endangering the life of the mother, he said he would.
But then his campaign quickly backtracked, saying he misheard the question and that he still supports the measure.
This naturally unleashed a flurry of responses from his Democratic challengers:
Cory Booker clapped back on NBC: “I think the Hyde Amendment is wrong.”
Beto O’Rourke tweeted: “No matter your income or where you live, every woman should have access to health care including abortion.”
Kamala Harris weighed in. “No woman’s access to reproductive health care should be based on how much money she has. We must repeal the Hyde Amendment,” she tweeted.
Others have been, er, less measured. As one abortion columnist hyperventilated in the Washington Post: “Biden’s position on this issue should disqualify him from contention for the nomination.”Let’s all take a deep breath. Biden is right to back the Hyde Amendment on both the principle and the politics. In fact, if he didn’t, I’m not sure what point there would be to his candidacy for president.