Former Vice President Joe Biden supported the Hyde Amendment for many years up until recently.
What We Know:
- On Wednesday, Biden’s campaign said he supported the amendment, according to the New York Times. However, after facing a lot of criticism and after Sen. Elizabeth Warren noted the inequalities of the amendment during a town hall-style forum, Biden was swift to reverse his position on Thursday. “If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code,” Biden said in a tweet.
- The Hyde Amendment blocks federal funding being used for abortions and improperly impacts poor women and women of color who depend on Medicaid for health procedures. Biden would have been the first Democratic presidential nominee to support the amendment since President Jimmy Carter.
- For years, Biden has struggled with his views on abortion. In 1982, Biden supported an amendment that would allow individual states to overturn Roe v. Wade.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned Biden that he is making a mistake and that he should not call himself a progressive if he supports the Hyde Amendment and takes a moderate stance on women’s rights.
Y’all still inviting him to the cookout after this flip-flopping?
God damn Elizabeth Warren is on point here.pic.twitter.com/enkh8oAjkQ
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) June 6, 2019
