Following the presidential debate on Thursday, a spate of op-eds appeared from left-leaning media outlets lamenting President Joe Biden’s rambling answers on abortion — Democrats’ top campaign issue going into November.
“The debate was so catastrophic that it’s hard to pinpoint one worst moment, but Biden’s answer on abortion rights—which should have been an easy win for him, given that it’s one issue where Democrats have a huge advantage—may have been his most egregious,” Jill Filipovic wrote for Slate.
WATCH: Biden Fumbles His Way Through Abortion Question on Historic Debate Night Against Trump
CNN moderator Dana Bash questioned Trump about whether he would ban abortion pills — he said he would not — and also asked Biden if there are any abortion restrictions he supports. Biden repeatedly referenced restoring Roe v. Wade and refused to cite any abortion restrictions he would toss his weight behind.
Filipovic continued:
Americans are incredibly receptive to the argument that abortion rights are about personal freedoms, and that abortion bans have disastrous consequences. But Biden was unable to articulate any of that. He gave a rambling answer about supporting Roe v. Wade’s three-trimester framework, which he then failed to actually articulate. His long-standing allergy to saying the word abortion tripped him up; as the already-digressive president tried to steer himself away from the A-word, he wound up not saying much at all. …
Filipovic also slammed Biden for “bizarrely” bring up the issue of illegal immigrants murdering young American women, “something Trump has used again and again in his campaign to paint the Biden presidency as dangerously soft on the border—turning a question that should have been an easy victory into an opening for his opponent to rant about his favorite pet issue.”
She wrote:
Biden’s struggles to answer the abortion questions were, in many ways, part of his struggles to answer many different questions throughout the evening: the result of inarticulateness that may be from being ill, or being tired, or age-related physical or even cognitive decline. But his struggles to answer the abortion question also seemed to reflect a general disengagement on the issue, and a genuine lack of knowledge.
Tessa Stuart wrote for Rolling Stone that Biden’s abortion response was a “disaster.”
“But Biden couldn’t have fumbled the exchange more spectacularly, beginning by quibbling over whether or not constitutional scholars agreed that Roe was wrongly decided (honestly, at this point, who cares?),” Stuart wrote, “then referencing Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban, before veering inexplicably into a story about Laken Riley, the nursing student allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant.”
Stuart added that the debate had been an opportunity for Biden “to draw a clear contrast between his record, as president, on reproductive rights, and the potential disaster looming if Trump is elected again.”
“Instead this critical moment devolved into a barely coherent back-and-forth about what constitutional scholars thought about Roe v. Wade in a broader exchange filled with missed opportunities, distortions, and outright lies,” she continued.
Sara Pequeño wrote for USA Today that Biden “struggled to come up with coherent answers” on abortion.
“Biden at least took the time to say that he wanted to restore Roe, but it took a long time to get there. I expected him to say something motivating – Democrats are campaigning heavily on abortion, and it’s a huge concern for Gen Z in particular,” she wrote. “I would have rather he have [sic] laid out clear plans for making Roe v. Wade the law of the land.”
“Biden’s campaign has made abortion central to his platform, even sending Vice President Kamala Harris to visit an abortion provider in Minnesota back in March. Considering how much they’ve been campaigning on the issue, I expected more than mild chastising from Biden during the debate,” she added.
Even before the debate, left-leaning media outlets have been bashing Biden, a self-proclaimed Catholic, for not being pro-abortion enough and not saying the word “abortion” enough.
Even so, the Biden administration is arguably the most pro-abortion administration in United States history, working through executive orders, rule-making and guidance from unelected government bureaucrats, and various legal challenges to install its abortion-on-demand agenda around the country and the world.