Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti said the Hyde Amendment is a "test" for former Vice President Joe Biden given how the Democratic base has moved to the left on the issue, while most Americans continue to oppose taxpayer funding for abortion.
"This is a Biden test because even though Democrats of course oppose the Hyde Amendment and taxpayer funding of abortion, the public at large actually supports the Hyde Amendment," he said on Fox News's Special Report. "They oppose taxpayer funding for abortion. This is revealed in polls by Marist on the abortion issue every year, including this one. So here's Biden's conflict between appealing to the Democratic base, which has moved left on this question and others, and a general election candidacy where support for the Hyde Amendment would not harm him."
Biden flipped his position on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion in all but a few cases. Biden now supports the amendment, despite appearing to tell an American Civil Liberties Union activist in May he would support repealing it.
Biden has expressed opposition to federal funding for abortions in the past, including in his 2007 book Promises to Keep.
A Marist survey from earlier this year found a majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortions.
Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and the pro-choice group NARAL seized on Biden's flip-flop.
"There is #NoMiddleGround on women’s rights. Abortion is a constitutional right. Under my Medicare for All plan, we will repeal the Hyde Amendment," Sanders tweeted.
There is #NoMiddleGround on women’s rights. Abortion is a constitutional right. Under my Medicare for All plan, we will repeal the Hyde Amendment.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 5, 2019
"There’s NO political or ideological excuse for @JoeBiden’s support for the Hyde Amendment, which translates into discrimination against poor women and women of color plain and simple. His position further endangers people already facing enormous hurdles," NARAL tweeted.
There’s NO political or ideological excuse for @JoeBiden’s support for the Hyde Amendment, which translates into discrimination against poor women and women of color plain and simple. His position further endangers people already facing enormous hurdles. https://t.co/3jDleIq077
— NARAL (@NARAL) June 5, 2019
Biden is currently the front-runner in a crowded Democratic primary field.