Joe Biden apparently changed his mind and has announced that he no longer opposes the use of federal funding for abortions abortions, after leading the race for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election in the United States.
Biden, a former senator and former vice president of the United States during Barack Obama’s tenure, has for decades supported a controversial provision on this issue, the Hyde amendment.
This 1976 amendment strictly limits cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life using federal funds to fund abortions through the Medicaid public health insurance system, which serves the most vulnerable Americans.
The amendment was approved after the famous Supreme Court ruling, called Roe v. Wade, who in 1973 legalized the right to abortion in the United States.
Biden, a 76-year-old Catholic who personally opposes abortion, has voted dozens of times in favor of the Hyde amendment.
But he was harshly criticized this week by other candidates for the Democratic nomination when his campaign team confirmed that he still supported the controversial amendment.
The debate on abortion has been revived by several states led by Republicans who have adopted restrictive measures in recent months.
On Thursday, Biden announced that he had changed his mind. “The rights and health of women are attacked in a way that is an attempt to reverse all the progress we have made in the last 50 years,” said the former vice president on Twitter.
“If I believe, as I do, that health is a right, I can no longer support an amendment that makes this right dependent on a person’s zip code,” he wrote.
Critics of the Hyde amendment say it discriminates against the poorest women who depend on Medicaid.
Biden’s change of position on Thursday came after a series of statements by his Democratic rivals hostile to the controversial amendment.
“We must repeal the Hyde amendment,” said independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who polls placed in second in the race for the Democratic nomination to the White House.
“I do not support the Hyde amendment and I will fight for its repeal,” Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, third in the polls, told reporters.
“No woman should see limited access to abortion for her income,” tweeted the fourth, Democratic Senator Kamala Harris
