Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden promised Monday to pass legislation that could make the killing of unborn babies up to birth in abortions “the law of the land.”
New York Post reports Biden made the comment during a NBC News town hall in Miami, Florida with moderator Lester Holt.
A young woman named Cassidy Brown, of Orlando, asked Biden about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Fearing the high court could reverse its abortion rulings, Brown said as a student, she knew that she wanted to earn a degree and start her career before she began having children, CNS News reports.
“Having access to birth control and safe reproductive healthcare was imperative in making that true for me,” Brown said. “So, considering the new Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, what are your particular plans to protect women’s reproductive rights in the U.S.?”
Barrett, if confirmed, would be the sixth conservative justice on the Supreme Court, replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an idol of abortion activists. Pro-life advocates hope and abortion activists fear that Barrett could help end abortion on demand and restore protections for unborn babies in the U.S.
Biden, though he claims to be a devout Catholic, supports Roe v. Wade and abortion on demand.
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He told Brown: “Number one, we don’t know exactly what she will do, although expectation is that she may very well move to … overrule Roe.
“And the only thing, the only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation making Roe the law of the land. That’s what I would do,” he added.
Later, Biden posted a video of the exchange on Twitter, writing, “Roe v. Wade must remain the law of the land.”
National Review writer Isaac Schorr noted how Biden has become increasingly extreme on the issue of unborn babies’ rights, first embracing abortion on demand and then recently agreeing to force taxpayers to fund abortions by ending the Hyde Amendment.
Schorr wrote:
… in his 2012 debate with Paul Ryan, Biden claimed to believe that life begins at conception, but said that he would not “impose” that belief on other Americans.
It was an utterly incoherent and deeply irresponsible position to take. If you believe that human life begins at conception, it is cowardly — not admirable or selfless — to abdicate your duty to stand up and speak up for the voiceless. It is especially shameful to abdicate for reasons of political self-preservation, as Biden did on that debate stage. Now, Biden has tacked even further left on the issue …
Though Biden did not say the word “abortion” or give details about the proposed legislation Monday, his support of the infamous Supreme Court case shows where he stands on the issue.
Because of Roe v. Wade, the United States is only one of seven countries in the world that allows elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Roe and subsequent Supreme Court rulings prohibit states from passing laws that protect unborn babies prior to viability. However, states are not under any obligation to protect unborn babies after viability either, and some – including Colorado and New Mexico – allow abortions for any reason up to birth.
Making Roe v. Wade federal law is extreme and out of touch with most voters. Polls consistently show that Americans support strong limits on abortion, especially in the third trimester when an unborn baby is viable.
A Marist poll in January found that more than six in 10 Americans (62%) say that if the Supreme Court revisits Roe v. Wade it should rule to allow states to determine restrictions (46%) or make abortion illegal (16%). Only 33% of Americans say Roe v. Wade should be interpreted to allow for legal abortion any time without restriction. The 62% majority includes about four in 10 of those who identify as Democrats (39%) or as “pro-choice” (40%).
In June, Gallup found 55% of Americans take a pro-life position on abortion wanting all (21%) or almost all 39% abortions made illegal. And in 2019, a Hill-HarrisX survey found that 55 percent of voters said they do not think heartbeat laws are too restrictive – laws that would ban almost all abortions.
