A Discussion Between Saint Peter and Joe Biden
Following is a short and informal history of Joe Biden’s pronouncements and stances on the issue of abortion. Like others, his stance on the practice has “evolved” over the years. However, unlike others, his stance has recently “evolved” from day to day. One might even suspect that the evolution has more to do with pressure from his party and his belief that he will never be the nominee if he, in any way at all, opposes abortion in any or all of its disgusting forms. Following the history is a short narrative, a conversation between Joe Biden and Saint Peter that occurred upon his untimely death.
1973 Joe Biden began his political career as a pro-life Democrat but like many other Catholic Democrats, including Ted Kennedy and Ed Muskie, he flipped after Roe v. Wade. “Well, I was 29 years old when I came to the US Senate, and I have learned a lot,” Biden said, explaining his switch. “Look, I’m a practicing Catholic, and it is the biggest dilemma for me in terms of comporting my religious and cultural views with my political responsibility.”(2)
1994 In ’94 Biden boasted to have voted against federal funding for abortion “on no fewer than 50 occasions;” among those was a vote in 1977 against allowing Medicaid to pay for abortions for victims of rape and incest. When that bill succeeded anyway, Biden voted to remove the exceptions again in a separate bill, passed in 1981, that NBC calls “the most far-reaching ban on federal funds ever enacted by Congress.” That same year, Biden supported the constitutional amendment empowering states to overturn Roe. Two years later, in 1983, Biden opposed allowing insurers to cover all abortions for federal employees, except if the mother’s life was at-risk.(1)
2019.06.05 Biden’s views on the Hyde amendment captured the national spotlight this week after his campaign aides told NBC News that he remains supportive of the prohibition on the direct federal funding of abortion, less than one month after he told an ACLU volunteer that the amendment “can’t stay.” (3)
2019.06.06 In the wake of intense pressure from his Democratic primary opponents, former vice president Joe Biden on Thursday announced his opposition to the Hyde amendment, which prohibits the direct federal funding of abortion, just one day after his campaign claimed he has never wavered in his support for…
