Joe Biden Flip-Flops, Opposes Hyde Amendment and Vows to Impose Federal Taxpayer Funding of Abortion

Faith & Freedom Takes Biden to Task for Repudiating a 40-year Position, Caving to Primary Opponents and Radical Left

Washington, DC – Faith & Freedom Coalition Founder and Chairman Ralph Reed issued the following statement in response to former Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s changing a position he has held for 41 years after two days of pressure from pro-abortion liberal Democrats. Biden repudiated his longstanding support of the Hyde Amendment banning federal taxpayer funding of abortion under the Medicaid program. The former Vice-President and frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for President announced his flip-flop at a Democratic National Committee event in Atlanta. In response, Reed issued the following statement:

“For 41 years as a U.S. Senator, Vice-President, and three-time presidential candidate, Joe Biden has steadfastly supported the Hyde Amendment. For two generations, spanning seven presidents, the Hyde Amendment has reflected a post-Roe, bipartisan consensus that even as abortion remained legal, taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize it under the Medicaid program. After criticism from his primary opponents and the far Left, Mr. Biden folded like a cheap suit and repudiated a position he has held for four decades and is now on record supporting taxpayer-funding of abortion, a radical and extreme policy opposed by the vast majority of the American people. To be clear, no Administration of either party has implemented such a policy since Roe v. Wade. Even worse—and deeply disturbing—-Biden has demonstrated that for him, politics trumps principle, and that he will say or do anything to be elected. By repudiating a position he reaffirmed as recently as 48 hours ago, Joe Biden has betrayed the unborn and American taxpayers.”

Biden has changed his position on the Hyde Amendment three times in one week. After being heard telling a voter that he would support repeal of the Hyde Amendment, Biden quickly changed his public position and said he would continue to support Hyde language, but told the Democratic crowd in Atlanta yesterday, “ If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code.”

Then Senator Biden voted in 1982 on legislation to allow individual states to overturn Roe v. Wade and then flip-flopped the following year voting against the same bill. In 1994, Biden wrote a letter to members of the National Right To Life proudly stating that he had voted nearly 50 times in support of federal prohibition of taxpayer subsidies of abortion.