Former Vice President Joe Biden has been drawing criticism from pro-abortion advocates for decades.
Pro-abortion rights advocates warned at the time of Judge Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearings in 1991 that Thomas would pose an extreme danger to abortion rights if confirmed. Then-Sen. Biden called this a “failure of logic,” according to the Huffington Post.
A speech Thomas gave at the Heritage Foundation in 1987 gave the first clues that he leaned anti-abortion. Thomas praised an essay by conservative scholar, Lewis Lehrman, in which he argued that a fetus has an “inherent right to life” and labeled abortion “a holocaust.” Thomas called the essay “a splendid example of applying natural law.”
Biden, although concerned with Thomas’ reluctance to reveal his position on abortion in the hearings, gave him the benefit of the doubt.
“I do not share the certainty of some who are voting against Judge Thomas that he will be as extreme as some of his statements could lead one to believe he might be. As a matter of fact, my heart tells me he won’t. My heart tells me he’ll be a solid justice,” Biden said in committee.
Anti-abortion activists at the time were frustrated with Biden’s waffling support of abortion rights.
“It was just a continuation of the uncertainty of dealing with him on this issue, well before the Anita Hill or Clarence Thomas hearings came along,” Faye Wattleton, the former president of Planned Parenthood, told the Huffington Post.
“Sen. Biden always has had complicated views on the issue,” Kate Michelman, former director of NARAL Pro-Choice America said. “His recent remarks about the Hyde Amendment are evidence of his rather complicated view.”
The former vice president shocked Democrats last week when he suddenly reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment and said he supported repealing it. The amendment prevents federal funds from being used for abortion procedures. After receiving harsh criticism, his campaign clarified that his support of the amendment has never changed.
Biden’s campaign spokesman, Andrew Bates, reiterated that the vice president believed Justice Thomas should not have been confirmed to the Supreme Court and believes he made the correct choice in voting against his confirmation.
“Vice President Biden supports a woman’s right to choose and he believes we are in a moment of unprecedented assault on choice in this country,” he told the Huffington Post. “He has called for the codification of Roe into law and as president he would fight to preserve the right to choose.”
