Joe Biden reverses course on Hyde abortion amendment

ATLANTA — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is reversing course and declaring that he no longer supports a long-standing congressional ban on using federal health care money to pay for abortions.

Biden made the declaration Thursday following two days of intense scrutiny and criticism from rivals after his campaign affirmed that the 76-year-old former vice president still supported the Hyde Amendment.

Biden said at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Atlanta that keeping Hyde would prevent poor women from exercising their constitutional rights to terminate a pregnancy. He pointed to Republican-run states imposing new abortion restrictions.

“If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, then I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code," he said.

The Democratic front-runner defended his previous support for the Hyde Amendment. He said he supported it because he thought that there was wide enough access to abortion services without any Medicaid or other government support for it.

Biden’s appeareance at the major Democratic fundraiser marks his first public appearance in Atlanta since announcing his run for the White House.

The event also featured a long list of other big-name Democrats, like presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

Cox Media Group