Biden reverses its position and now opposes the Hyde restriction on abortion financing: NPR



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Former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate, said Thursday in front of an audience in Atlanta that he no longer supported the Hyde Amendment, which forbids most federal funding to pay for abortions.

John Bazemore / AP


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John Bazemore / AP

Former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic presidential candidate, said Thursday in front of an audience in Atlanta that he no longer supported the Hyde Amendment, which forbids most federal funding to pay for abortions.

John Bazemore / AP

Former Vice President Joseph Biden said Thursday in Atlanta that he was now opposing the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal grants for abortion by through programs such as Medicaid.

He attributed his change of stance to the adoption by Republican lawmakers of bills aimed at limiting access to abortions and efforts to overturn the historic Roe v. Wade who legalized the procedure.

"If I think health care is a right, as I think, I can no longer support an amendment that subordinates that right to a postal code," said Biden. m said at a fundraiser of the Democratic National Committee in Georgia, among the states that have recently passed laws restricting abortions.

Biden, who has always been leading the polls for the Democratic primaries, has long supported the Hyde amendment, as some have contested in his own party. Many 2020 Democrat candidates are unanimous in demanding that the amendment be repealed.

The Hyde Amendment is a 43-year-old law that prohibits taxpayer-supported health care programs from using federal funds for abortions, except in the case of rape, incest or death. save the life of a woman.

Earlier in the week, Biden's campaign affirmed the candidate's support for the ban, sparking critics of abortion rights advocates, who called on Biden to reconsider his long stance dated.

Biden, 76, a Catholic, told the crowd that he had voted for the Hyde amendment as a senator because he thought women could still have access to abortion even though the programs supported by the federal government did not fund the procedure.

"There was enough money and circumstances for women to exercise this right, women of color, poor women," said Biden. "It was not attacked," he said. "As it is now."

Now, says Biden, there are too many legal obstacles to the request for abortion, which has resulted in a turnaround of his position.

"I can not justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the opportunity to exercise their constitutionally protected right," Biden said.

Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood, applauded Biden changed her mind on the issue, but noted that her thoughts on this issue were lagging behind the women's rights movement.

"Happy to see Joe Biden embrace what we have long known to be true: Hyde blocks people – especially women of color and low-income women – from accessing legal and abortion care. safe, "said Wen.

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