President Joe Biden’s recent comments about abortion have drawn criticism from left-wing media outlets such as The Nation and Slate, with writers expressing discontent at his perceived lack of commitment to the pro-abortion cause.
They emphasized his invocation of his Catholic faith and his statements against “abortion on demand.”
“I’m a practicing Catholic. I don’t want abortion on demand, but I thought Roe v. Wade was right,” Biden said.
Biden seems to only use the word "abortion" to stigmatize the procedure, recently invoking "abortion on demand" in a defensive crouch. Women demand abortions because they need them. Biden should treat pregnant people like full human beings. Me in @Slate https://t.co/43kCZu7pzs
— Susan Rinkunas (NEW ACCT) (@SusanRinkunas) February 9, 2024
Despite the Biden administration’s pro-abortion stance, various media critics argued that his reluctance and mixed messaging on the issue could hinder his re-election prospects.
While the administration has prioritized abortion-related executive orders and legal challenges, the intense focus on abortion is seen as a distraction from other pressing national concerns.
“As a matter of strategy—and anything Biden says about abortion ought to be a matter of strategy given its potential to keep him in the White House—it’s almost inconceivable why he doesn’t say something more like ‘I’m a practicing Catholic, and I think it’s wrong that Republicans want to ban abortion nationwide.’ He could even add, ‘I won’t let abortion access be further eroded, and I’ll fight to restore people’s rights,” Susan Rinkunas wrote.
“But I think we all know the issue here: Biden’s long-standing personal distaste for abortion makes him incapable of forcefully campaigning for women to have more rights than fetuses,” she said.
“Biden also noted his disapproval of ‘abortion on demand’ during a White House meeting on the anniversary of the Roe ruling. Whether this comment is a favored ad-lib or something his speechwriters cooked up, it needs to go, immediately,” she wrote.
Biden’s emphasis on “restoring Roe” and blaming former President Trump for Supreme Court appointments is part of the administration’s strategy to capitalize on the abortion issue for electoral gain.
“Biden’s hedging language about abortion highlights one of the paradoxes of the 2024 election: His best hope for reelection comes from harnessing the fierce pro-choice sentiments that have erupted after the Dobbs decision, but the president is at best a reluctant warrior on the issue,” writer Jeet Heer said.
“Biden’s history suggests that the pro-choice position is one he came to tardily and half-heartedly in order to stay viable as a political figure in the Democratic Party,” Heer said.
“Sending mixed messages makes no sense when you want to raise the salience of and passion around abortion” and accused the president of speaking on the issue in “stilted, euphemistic terms,” Heer added.
“Even the invocation of Roe—which echoes Biden’s frequent promise to ‘restore Roe’—puts him at odds with pro-choice groups, which have repeatedly insisted that the goal, now that the 2022 Dobbs decision ended Roe, should be to codify into law protections of reproduction freedom that are stronger and more entrenched, rooted in claims not just of a privacy right but also the fundamental rights of women to be equal citizens,” Heer wrote.
“…The abortion issue highlights the dilemma of this presidential election. Democrats can win if they speak in the language of 2024, but they have tied themselves to a president whose entire worldview is shaped by middle decades of the last century. The horrific Dobbs decision was a political gift to the Democratic Party, but if anyone can squander that gift, it’s Joe Biden,” Heer said.
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