|
Biden, the front-runner in the race for the 2020 Democratic
nomination and a former vice president, said he had changed his
long-held position on the Hyde Amendment because the right to an
abortion was now under assault in many states and increasingly
inaccessible for low-income women.
"I can't justify leaving millions of women without access to the
care they need and the ability to exercise their
constitutionally protected right," Biden said in a speech in
Atlanta.
"If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can longer
support an amendment that makes that right dependent on
someone's zip code," he said.
Biden's support for the Hyde Amendment, which was passed in 1976
and prohibits the use of federal funds for most abortions, put
him out of step with much of the rest of the Democratic Party on
an emotional issue.
Abortion-rights groups, including Planned Parenthood, and a
number of Biden's opponents for the Democratic nomination
criticized his support for Hyde this week.
Abortion has re-emerged as a central national issue in recent
weeks as nine states, including Alabama, Georgia and Missouri,
passed restrictive laws this year that all but outlaw the
procedure.
The laws aim to prompt court challenges that would make it to
the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court with the hope that
it would overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed
a woman's right to abortion.
(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Peter Cooney)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
