Can someone explain this Biden & Anita Hill

Racism, Sexism, Politics, Power and Money... don't be confused that the two principles are black, the rabbit hole is so deep with this one
even I can't break it down in one reply.

Shout out to sista Anita Hill..:yes::cheers:
Anita.Hill_.2021.square.jpg
 
Actually you can argue that the road to now started with Robert Bork. Thomas was just the first time the process became a pop culture symbol of the times.
 
Basically, it was the same as Brett Kaveanaugh without the "I like Beer"
Thomas sexually harassed her in the work place for a time, and when asked about it at his confirmation he denied it and Biden destroyed her credibility and he was confirmed.

She stayed with her story, and all was swept under the rug.

There is so much more to this story but I'll leave it at that for those who want to add or fill in the blanks.
 
Other than the optics of this ruling it will hurt the right far more than the left. This is an inconvenience for abortions. Of course it's going to snowball to other right wing agendas but by then hopefully these dumb black and Hispanic Republicans open their eyes. Won't hold my breath tho.
 
Thomas sexually harassed her in the work place for a time, and when asked about it at his confirmation he denied it and Biden destroyed her credibility and he was confirmed.

She stayed with her story, and all was swept under the rug.

There is so much more to this story but I'll leave it at that for those who want to add or fill in the blanks.

I'm not riding for Biden but he was wrong to back CT at that time and time has proven that. He bet on the wrong horse back then and its coming back to hurt this country. Now Biden feels differently and rightfully so. Although CT was not the one, everyone was so desperate that Thurgood Marshall replacement be a black man, BUSH SR fuck the whole county and we are still getting fuck on this one. He picked a black man in skin color only. Nothing about CT is black and he fucking hates black. Read his autobiography and you will come to understand this intimately.

As far as AHill, she never could explain with clarity why if CT continued to harass her, why she choose to follow him from job to job and ask for his help time and time again. AHill had some credibility issue at the time. It's possible she was telling the truth and didn't want to fuck up her career at the time but they way she explained herself in the press and during the hearings, did not help her at all. I watched it and thought at the time, she is not helping herself at all. Instead of keeping it 100%, she came off very clinical in her explanation.
 
Ginni Thomas left a voicemail for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment

ginni-thomas-john-eastman-emails.jpg

  • Ginni Thomas left a voicemail for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing her husband of sexual harassment.
  • The voicemail came in 2010, nearly 20 years after Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
  • Thomas described the call to The New York Times as a "peacekeeping" attempt; Hill called it "inappropriate."


Nearly 20 years after her husband was confirmed to the Supreme Court, Ginni Thomas left a voicemail for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
On October 9, 2010, Anita Hill, then a lawyer and professor at Brandeis University, received a voicemail on her office line, People reported, from the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
"I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband," Ginni Thomas said in the voicemail, People reported. "So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. Okay, have a good day."
In 1991, Hill became the center of contentious confirmation hearings for Thomas after an FBI report about her accusations was leaked to the press. She later testified before Congress that Thomas had repeatedly sexually harassed her while she was his subordinate and engaged in inappropriate workplace behavior.

He was ultimately confirmed in a 52-48 vote.
Hill described the call from Thomas' wife as "certainly inappropriate" in an interview with The New York Times.
"It came in at 7:30 a.m. on my office phone from somebody I didn't know, and she is asking for an apology," Hill told The New York Times when the voicemail was first reported. "It was not invited. There was no background for it."
In a statement sent through her publicist, Thomas acknoweldged she'd called the woman her husband was accused of harassing and said she meant no offense.

"I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get past what happened so long ago," The New York Times reported Thomas said. "That offer still stands. I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended."
Hill, however, did not accept the apology, saying: "I appreciate that no offense was intended, but she can't ask for an apology without suggesting that I did something wrong, and that is offensive."

 
Ginni Thomas left a voicemail for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment

ginni-thomas-john-eastman-emails.jpg

  • Ginni Thomas left a voicemail for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing her husband of sexual harassment.
  • The voicemail came in 2010, nearly 20 years after Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
  • Thomas described the call to The New York Times as a "peacekeeping" attempt; Hill called it "inappropriate."


Nearly 20 years after her husband was confirmed to the Supreme Court, Ginni Thomas left a voicemail for Anita Hill asking her to apologize for accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.
On October 9, 2010, Anita Hill, then a lawyer and professor at Brandeis University, received a voicemail on her office line, People reported, from the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
"I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband," Ginni Thomas said in the voicemail, People reported. "So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. Okay, have a good day."
In 1991, Hill became the center of contentious confirmation hearings for Thomas after an FBI report about her accusations was leaked to the press. She later testified before Congress that Thomas had repeatedly sexually harassed her while she was his subordinate and engaged in inappropriate workplace behavior.

He was ultimately confirmed in a 52-48 vote.
Hill described the call from Thomas' wife as "certainly inappropriate" in an interview with The New York Times.
"It came in at 7:30 a.m. on my office phone from somebody I didn't know, and she is asking for an apology," Hill told The New York Times when the voicemail was first reported. "It was not invited. There was no background for it."
In a statement sent through her publicist, Thomas acknoweldged she'd called the woman her husband was accused of harassing and said she meant no offense.

"I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get past what happened so long ago," The New York Times reported Thomas said. "That offer still stands. I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended."
Hill, however, did not accept the apology, saying: "I appreciate that no offense was intended, but she can't ask for an apology without suggesting that I did something wrong, and that is offensive."

3 turtle looking motherfuckers.
 


It actually goes back further than that.

A similar situation like what happened with Justice Ginsburg happened with Justice Thurgood Marshall.

EF3FF1B4-A254-B515-11022D97E4918689.jpeg


He, like Ginsburg was in poor health and declining.

He tried holding out until after the 1992 election, but he like everybody else assumed President. George Bush would sweep and win easily in 1992 because of the political capital Bush got for the success of Operation Desert Storm.

So Justice Marshall decided to retire under the Bush administration allowing Bush to replace him with Uncle Clarence turning the court to a 5-4 conservative majority.

Well….things took a landslide with Bush, and Ol’ Slick Willie managed to come out of left field and take POTUS in 1992.

Marshall passed away during the first term of the Clinton administration. He should have stayed on the seat until he dropped dead.

That’s why Justice Ginsburg hung around, she was planning on resigning after the 2016 election thinking Hillary was going to win easily, cuz Ginsburg, like everybody in America assumed nobody was stupid enough to vote for the Orange Idiot.

She tried her best to hold out until 2020 hoping a Democrat would win, but she passed away unfortunately too soon.

So it all goes back to the definition of Assume.

All you do is make a ASS out of U and Me

Never Assume anything in American Politics.
 


WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized women's constitutional right to abortion, a decision condemned by President Joe Biden that will dramatically change life for millions of women in America and exacerbate growing tensions in a deeply polarized country.

The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The vote was 5-4 to overturn Roe, with conservative Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law without taking the additional step of erasing the Roe precedent altogether.

This question would not be for you, but Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, and you had 4 other Supreme Court Justices agree with him in the 5 to 4 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. So why single out Clarence Thomas? Especially, when the 3 Justices appointed by Donald Trump conveniently lied when questioned at their confirmation hearings, and then voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
 
Senator Joseph R. Biden (Democrat, Delaware) voted NAY.

Skip Content
Find Your Senators Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming


MENU
VIEW ARCHIVED FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
Roll Call Vote 102nd Congress - 1st Session
XMLVote Summary

Question: On the Nomination (Nomination - Clarence Thomas )
Vote Number: 220
Vote Date: October 15, 1991, 06:03 PM

Required For Majority: 1/2
Vote Result: Nomination Confirmed

Nomination Number: PN456
Nomination Description: Clarence Thomas, of Georgia, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Vote Counts:
YEAs52

NAYs
48

*Information compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate bill clerk under the direction of the secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary
By Senator Name
By Vote Position
By Home State
Alphabetical by Senator Name
Adams (D-WA), Nay
Akaka (D-HI), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Nay
Bentsen (D-TX), Nay
Biden (D-DE), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Nay
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boren (D-OK), Yea
Bradley (D-NJ), Nay
Breaux (D-LA), Yea
Brown (R-CO), Yea
Bryan (D-NV), Nay
Bumpers (D-AR), Nay
Burdick, Quentin S (D-ND), Nay
Burns (R-MT), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Nay
Chafee (R-RI), Yea
Coats (R-IN), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Cohen (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Cranston (D-CA), Nay
D'Amato (R-NY), Yea
Danforth (R-MO), Yea
Daschle (D-SD), Nay
DeConcini (D-AZ), Yea
Dixon (D-IL), Yea
Dodd (D-CT), Nay
Dole (R-KS), Yea
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Durenberger (R-MN), Yea
Exon (D-NE), Yea
Ford (D-KY), Nay
Fowler (D-GA), Yea
Garn (R-UT), Yea
Glenn (D-OH), Nay
Gore (D-TN), Nay
Gorton (R-WA), Yea
Graham (D-FL), Nay
Gramm (R-TX), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hatfield (R-OR), Yea
Heflin (D-AL), Nay
Helms (R-NC), Yea
Hollings (D-SC), Yea
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Jeffords (R-VT), Nay
Johnston (D-LA), Yea
Kassebaum (R-KS), Yea
Kasten (R-WI), Yea
Kennedy (D-MA), Nay
Kerrey (D-NE), Nay
Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Nay
Lieberman (D-CT), Nay
Lott (R-MS), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Mack (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Metzenbaum (D-OH), Nay
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Mitchell (D-ME), Nay
Moynihan (D-NY), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Nickles (R-OK), Yea
Nunn (D-GA), Yea
Packwood (R-OR), Nay
Pell (D-RI), Nay
Pressler (R-SD), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reid (D-NV), Nay
Riegle (D-MI), Nay
Robb (D-VA), Yea
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Roth (R-DE), Yea
Rudman (R-NH), Yea
Sanford (D-NC), Nay
Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay
Sasser (D-TN), Nay
Seymour (R-CA), Yea
Shelby (D-AL), Yea
Simon (D-IL), Nay
Simpson (R-WY), Yea
Smith (R-NH), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Symms (R-ID), Yea
Thurmond (R-SC), Yea
Wallop (R-WY), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Wellstone (D-MN), Nay
Wirth (D-CO), Nay
Wofford (D-PA), Nay
Vote Summary
By Senator Name
By Vote Position
By Home State
Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---52
Bond (R-MO)
Boren (D-OK)
Breaux (D-LA)
Brown (R-CO)
Burns (R-MT)
Chafee (R-RI)
Coats (R-IN)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cohen (R-ME)
Craig (R-ID)
D'Amato (R-NY)
Danforth (R-MO)
DeConcini (D-AZ)
Dixon (D-IL)
Dole (R-KS)
Domenici (R-NM)
Durenberger (R-MN)
Exon (D-NE)
Fowler (D-GA)
Garn (R-UT)
Gorton (R-WA)
Gramm (R-TX)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hatfield (R-OR)
Helms (R-NC)
Hollings (D-SC)
Johnston (D-LA)
Kassebaum (R-KS)
Kasten (R-WI)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Mack (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nickles (R-OK)
Nunn (D-GA)
Pressler (R-SD)
Robb (D-VA)
Roth (R-DE)
Rudman (R-NH)
Seymour (R-CA)
Shelby (D-AL)
Simpson (R-WY)
Smith (R-NH)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Symms (R-ID)
Thurmond (R-SC)
Wallop (R-WY)
Warner (R-VA)
NAYs ---48
Adams (D-WA)
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bentsen (D-TX)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bradley (D-NJ)
Bryan (D-NV)
Bumpers (D-AR)
Burdick, Quentin S (D-ND)
Byrd (D-WV)
Conrad (D-ND)
Cranston (D-CA)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Ford (D-KY)
Glenn (D-OH)
Gore (D-TN)
Graham (D-FL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Heflin (D-AL)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (R-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerrey (D-NE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Metzenbaum (D-OH)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Mitchell (D-ME)
Moynihan (D-NY)
Packwood (R-OR)
Pell (D-RI)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Riegle (D-MI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanford (D-NC)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Sasser (D-TN)
Simon (D-IL)
Wellstone (D-MN)
Wirth (D-CO)
Wofford (D-PA)
Vote Summary
By Senator Name
By Vote Position
By Home State
Grouped by Home State
Alabama:
Heflin (D-AL), Nay

Shelby (D-AL), Yea
Alaska:

Murkowski (R-AK), Yea

Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Arizona:

DeConcini (D-AZ), Yea

McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:

Bumpers (D-AR), Nay

Pryor (D-AR), Nay
California:

Cranston (D-CA), Nay

Seymour (R-CA), Yea
Colorado:

Brown (R-CO), Yea

Wirth (D-CO), Nay
Connecticut:

Dodd (D-CT), Nay

Lieberman (D-CT), Nay
Delaware:

Biden (D-DE), Nay

Roth (R-DE), Yea
Florida:

Graham (D-FL), Nay

Mack (R-FL), Yea
Georgia:

Fowler (D-GA), Yea

Nunn (D-GA), Yea
Hawaii:

Akaka (D-HI), Nay

Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:

Craig (R-ID), Yea

Symms (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:

Dixon (D-IL), Yea

Simon (D-IL), Nay
Indiana:

Coats (R-IN), Yea

Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:

Grassley (R-IA), Yea

Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:

Dole (R-KS), Yea

Kassebaum (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:

Ford (D-KY), Nay

McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:

Breaux (D-LA), Yea

Johnston (D-LA), Yea
Maine:

Cohen (R-ME), Yea

Mitchell (D-ME), Nay
Maryland:

Mikulski (D-MD), Nay

Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:

Kennedy (D-MA), Nay

Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Michigan:

Levin (D-MI), Nay

Riegle (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:

Durenberger (R-MN), Yea

Wellstone (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:

Cochran (R-MS), Yea

Lott (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:

Bond (R-MO), Yea

Danforth (R-MO), Yea
Montana:

Baucus (D-MT), Nay

Burns (R-MT), Yea
Nebraska:

Exon (D-NE), Yea

Kerrey (D-NE), Nay
Nevada:

Bryan (D-NV), Nay

Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:

Rudman (R-NH), Yea

Smith (R-NH), Yea
New Jersey:

Bradley (D-NJ), Nay

Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:

Bingaman (D-NM), Nay

Domenici (R-NM), Yea
New York:

D'Amato (R-NY), Yea

Moynihan (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:

Helms (R-NC), Yea

Sanford (D-NC), Nay
North Dakota:

Burdick, Quentin S (D-ND), Nay

Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:

Glenn (D-OH), Nay

Metzenbaum (D-OH), Nay
Oklahoma:

Boren (D-OK), Yea

Nickles (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:

Hatfield (R-OR), Yea

Packwood (R-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:

Specter (R-PA), Yea

Wofford (D-PA), Nay
Rhode Island:

Chafee (R-RI), Yea

Pell (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:

Hollings (D-SC), Yea

Thurmond (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:

Daschle (D-SD), Nay

Pressler (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee:

Gore (D-TN), Nay

Sasser (D-TN), Nay
Texas:

Bentsen (D-TX), Nay

Gramm (R-TX), Yea
Utah:

Garn (R-UT), Yea

Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:

Jeffords (R-VT), Nay

Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Virginia:

Robb (D-VA), Yea

Warner (R-VA), Yea
Washington:

Adams (D-WA), Nay

Gorton (R-WA), Yea
West Virginia:

Byrd (D-WV), Nay

Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:

Kasten (R-WI), Yea

Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:

Simpson (R-WY), Yea

Wallop (R-WY), Yea
Vote Summary
By Senator Name
By Vote Position
By Home State
Find Votes
Find out about congressional voting with this How to guide.
Find Bills
Use this guide to help you find the full text of recent bills and resolutions on the Web, or order them from the Senate or House Document Rooms, or you can find them in a library.
Find bills
You can access legislative information, by bill number or key words, from the Congress.gov website. Information from the present back to the 93rd Congress (1973) is available on Congress.gov.
Virtual Reference Desks
The Votes page of the Virtual Reference Desk provides voting procedure information, research guides, and essays about historic votes.
Vote Statistics
The Votes category on the Statistics page features facts and figures about votes made by Senators.
Contact | Content Responsibility | Usage Policy | PDF Help | Privacy Policy | www.senate.gov
 
Abortion has long been complicated for Biden. Now he leads the fight.
By Matt Viser Washington Post,Updated May 4, 2022, 5:07 p.m.


WASHINGTON — Joe Biden became a senator in 1973, just 17 days before the Supreme Court decided the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade. The young senator, a practicing Catholic, later told an interviewer he disagreed with the decision and he had views on such matters that made him ‘’about as liberal as your grandmother.’’
’I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far,’’ he concluded in 1974. ‘’I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.’’
Nearly a half-century later, with Biden evolving along with his party on the issue of abortion rights, he again declared the court was moving too far — this time, he argued, in the opposite direction.
Advertisement


’The idea that we’re going to make a judgment that is going to say that no one can make the judgment to choose to abort a child, based on a decision by the Supreme Court, I think, goes way overboard,’’ Biden said on Tuesday in reaction to a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion proposing to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Throughout his career, Biden’s views on abortion — at least as a political matter — have steadily shifted in a way that has in recent years placed him in line with his party but at uncomfortable odds with his church. And now that he has become the second Catholic president in US history, he suddenly finds himself the country’s highest-ranking champion of abortion rights as it faces its greatest challenge since Roe.
‘’It concerns me a great deal that we’re going to, after 50 years, decide a woman does not have a right to choose,’’ Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One on Tuesday.
Abortion has long been a vexing issue for some Catholic Democrats, and Biden has been openly conflicted over it. While as president he has been an ally of abortion rights groups, he has also almost never used the word ‘’abortion,’’ as though he finds it uncomfortable — or politically risky — to do so.
Advertisement

But as a clear supporter of abortion rights, he has been at odds with a group of American bishops, with some refusing to offer him Communion and others saying the president — who attends Mass almost every weekend — has no right to call himself a serious Catholic.
‘’For Joe Biden, his gap from the institutional leadership of the church in this country and also in the Vatican is widening,’’ said Massimo Faggioli, a Villanova University theology professor and author of ‘’Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States.’’ ‘’Because politically, he has to defend Roe v. Wade, to legislate on it probably. That will expose him to even more accusations that he’s a heretic, he’s not a Catholic, and that all Catholics who voted for him are heretics.’’
The only other Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, confronted more open prejudice for his faith and famously gave a speech to Protestant ministers two months before the election to clear the air.
‘’I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president, should he be Catholic, how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote,’’ Kennedy declared.
Advertisement

But Kennedy was elected more than a decade before Roe v. Wade, so he did not confront the conflict over abortion as Biden does.
‘’He is a Catholic president who has no real majority in Congress, but even less in his church,’’ Faggioli said of Biden. ‘’This is a problem that Kennedy did not have.’’
And while Biden has received support from the Vatican, with Pope Francis welcoming him and protecting him from the sometimes-vocal criticism of his American coreligionists, that relationship could now grow more complex. Biden, as the nation’s most prominent Catholic, could shift from defending an existing law — one that has been accepted precedent for nearly a half-century— to actively pressing for new legislation to codify abortion rights in law.
It could also mark a new role for Biden himself. In five decades of public life, he has sometimes signaled unease with going against church teachings, but now he has a political imperative to do just that, and in a high-profile way.
‘’He is the most prominent Catholic political spokesman right now, and this is a uniquely important period for him to have a strong voice on the issue,’’ said Mark Rozell, who co-edited the book ‘’Catholics and US Politics After the 2016 Elections.’’
Biden’s complex feelings on abortion — an apparent discomfort, combined with a sense that the procedure should not be banned — mirror those of many Americans, however. Because of that, Rozell suggested Biden’s message could resonate if he handles the issue forthrightly.
Advertisement
 
JOE BIDEN
Joe Biden's long evolution on abortion rights still holds surprises
As a senator from Delaware, he once supported stripping exceptions for rape and incest from federal funding.
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign stop at the IBEW Local 490 in Concord, New Hampshire, U.S., June 4, 2019.Brian Snyder / Reuters


June 5, 2019, 5:01 AM EDT
By Heidi Przybyla
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden’s decades-long evolution on abortion rights has in many ways mirrored the changing attitudes of the Democratic Party, growing increasingly supportive over time.

But his past opposition to most federal funding for abortion services is more striking than previously recognized, according to an NBC News review of his Senate voting record, and includes repeated examples of Biden rejecting exceptions for victims of rape and incest that were supported by many members of his party at the time.

As a U.S. senator from Delaware, Biden voted against a 1977 compromise that allowed Medicaid to fund abortions that included exceptions for victims of rape and incest in addition to concerns for the life of the mother. While the rape and incest exceptions passed in that case, Biden voted in 1981 to again remove them, in what was the most far-reaching ban on federal funds ever enacted by Congress.



Biden under fire for supporting Hyde Amendment
JUNE 5, 2019 01:14

Biden also voted several times, including in 1983, to prohibit federal workers from using health insurance on abortion services, with the only exception being to save the life of the mother.
A devout Roman Catholic, Biden says he personally opposes abortion and has spoken openly about his internal struggles with the issue.
In his 2007 book “Promises to Keep,” Biden describes his beliefs and voting record on abortion as “middle of the road.” He wrote that he doesn’t think he has “a right to impose my view on the rest of society” and committed to protecting Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion. In a recent email to supporters, Biden underscored: "I refuse to impose my religious beliefs on other people."



Planned Parenthood President: 'We are in a state of emergency'
JUNE 2, 2019 06:35

As recently as Tuesday, Biden reaffirmed his support for Roe, telling voters in New Hampshire that it is “the law of the land, a woman has a right to choose.” He added that if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade while he was president, he would “push” legislation to keep it legal.
Recommended
RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICTG-7 leaders pledge $5 billion to combat food crisis stoked by Russia's war in Ukraine
2022 ELECTION Inside the Illinois GOP's $50 million primary 'debacle'

Yet his presidential campaign confirmed to NBC News that Biden still supports the Hyde Amendment, a four-decade-old ban on using federal funds for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman.
Biden’s continued support for Hyde not only sets him apart from the rest of his 2020 Democratic competitors, but it may surprise progressive groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which promoted a recent tweet by one of its activists appearing to get Biden to commit to ending Hyde during a rope-line exchange in South Carolina. Biden’s campaign told NBC he would be open to repealing Hyde if abortion avenues currently protected under Roe were threatened.
Since 1976, Congress has passed various versions of the Hyde Amendment, which directly affects Medicaid and the low-income families it serves. It wasn’t until 1993, with abortion-rights supporter Bill Clinton newly elected to the White House, that states were required to help pay for abortions for low-income women made pregnant through rape or incest.
With a surge in state laws effectively banning abortion and a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court igniting a political firestorm over the fate of Roe, Biden’s beliefs and voting record puts him at odds with his presidential competitors in an increasingly progressive Democratic Party.
All of the female senators running for the Democratic nomination — Kamala Harris of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — are co-sponsoring legislation to overturn the Hyde Amendment. And no other Democratic presidential candidate has come out in support of keeping the law.
Harris last week supported a plan to block the state abortion bans, arguing that nationwide access is already under assault.
Biden released a video late last month calling the new state laws, many allowing no exceptions for rape and incest, “pernicious” and “wrong.” His campaign also says he would support new federal laws protecting Roe.
Jamal Brown, Biden's press secretary, said the candidate’s evolution on the issue is well documented. Biden, who said he thought Roe was wrongly decided when he arrived in the Senate in 1973, now “firmly believes that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land and should not be overturned,” Brown said. He added that Biden “has fought vigorously to protect a woman's right to choose and against measures criminalizing abortion. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he blocked the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Robert Bork and he opposed anti-choice justices Roberts, Alito and Thomas.”
Planned Parenthood criticized Biden’s continued support for the Hyde Amendment.
Get the Morning Rundown
 
Last edited:
Back
Top