A recently resurfaced clip from 2006 shows Democrat frontrunner Joe Biden describing himself as the “odd man out” on the topic of abortion and asserting that abortion is not a “choice” or “right.”
The unearthed clip comes from a March 2006 interview with Texas Monthly. In the interview, Biden describes himself as the “odd man out” in the Democrat Party, particularly when it comes to his centrist positions on abortion. While he maintained support of Roe v. Wade, he boasted of his vote against partial-birth abortion, something modern day feminists would likely view as problematic.
“I’m a little bit of an odd man out in my party,” Biden said in the interview. “I don’t vote for funding for abortion. I voted against partial-birth abortion — to limit it — and I vote for no restrictions on a woman’s right to be able to have an abortion under Roe v. Wade.”
“And, so I am — I made everybody angry. I made the right-to-life people angry because I won’t support a constitutional amendment or limitations on a woman’s right to exercise her constitutional right as defined by Roe v. Wade,” he continued.
“And I’ve made the groups — the women’s groups and others — very angry because I won’t support public funding and I won’t support partial birth abortion,” he added.
Biden’s 2006 description of abortion piques further interest. He explained that he did not view abortion as a “choice” and “right.” He even went a step further, describing abortion as “always a tragedy” and calling for limiting the sheer number of abortions that occur in the country.
“It’s going to be very difficult,” Biden said. “I do not view abortion as a choice and a right. I think it’s always a tragedy, and I think that it should be rare and safe, and I think we should be focusing on how to limit the number of abortions.”
He added that the country should be able to reach a consensus and called for finding “common ground.”
The fact of the matter is, I’ve never known of a woman having an abortion say ‘By the way, I feel like having an abortion.’ It’s always a tragic decision made. Always a difficult decision. And I think we should focus on how to deal with women not wanting abortion.
This comes in light of Biden’s recent reversal of his previous position on the Hyde Amendment. Last Thursday, he told a crowd at the IWillVote Gala that he had been “struggling” with the Hyde Amendment in recent days, which led to his swift reversal.
“For many years as U.S. Senator, I have supported the Hyde Amendment like many, many others have,” Biden told the crowd. “I want to be clear: I make no apologies for my last position. I make no apologies for what I’m about to say.”
“If I believe that health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support that amendment dependent that makes that right dependent on someone’s zip code,” he continued.
The timing of his sudden change has been a point of great speculation. Even many abortion advocates worry that Biden reversed his position simply for the sake of political expediency.
Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates reaffirmed Biden’s newfound hardline stance on abortion:
Vice President Biden supports a woman’s right to choose and he believes that we are in a moment of unprecedented assault on choice in this country. As president, he would fight to preserve Roe v. Wade and he has called for it to be codified into law. Vice President Biden would nominate judges who would stand firm on upholding all of our constitutional rights, including a woman’s right to choose. If you look at his record on Supreme Court nominees you will see who he’s fought for — Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — and who he’s fought against — Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito.
Last week, another clip resurfaced, showing “2012 Biden” affirming his belief that “life begins at conception.”
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