Activists Push Biden To Take Harder Pro-Abortion Stance

Pro-abortion activists think President Joe Biden is the wrong leader for their cause given his Catholic faith and long history of opposing abortion, according to The New York Times.

Biden opposed abortion throughout most of his political career and is hesitant to discuss abortion explicitly, White House sources told the NYT. He changed his public stance on the issue over the past decade and became more pro-abortion, but activists feel he’s soft on the issue and not doing enough to promote abortion rights.

“Yes, there are limits to executive branch power, there are limits to what the president can do,” Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, told the NYT. “But this just feels like you’ve got to push the boundaries right now. This is a time to pull out all the stops. This is a time to take risks.”

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Biden issued two executive orders enshrining abortion access, including through protecting interstate travel for the procedure, after Roe was overturned. His administration has promoted abortion through the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Idaho over the state’s abortion law, and Biden considered declaring a public health emergency to promote abortion access.

Some pro-abortion activists view these actions as insufficient and urge Biden to take stronger actions to promote abortion; they also wish Biden would discuss abortion explicitly rather than using euphemisms like “reproductive health care,” according to the NYT. His history of opposition to abortion makes activists skeptical that he’s really doing all he can to enshrine abortion.

In 1974, the year after the Roe decision first came down, Biden told a reporter he felt that it went too far, and voted in favor of a failed constitutional amendment overturning Roe in 1983. He softened his ant-abortion stance by 2008, when he ran for vice president alongside then-candidate Barack Obama, and cemented his public pro-abortion views during his own campaign for president.

“This is not necessarily the guy that I am sure most activists wanted in the seat when this happened,” Jamie L. Manson, president of Catholics for Choice, told the NYT in reference to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. “It’s unfortunate because he has so much power and we need him to really get out of his comfort zone.”

The White House did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.