The issue has been particularly troubling for Biden, an 81-year-old man steeped in Catholic teachings and dependent on religious faith to deal with an unthinkable tragedy: the death of two children and his first wife, Neilia.
“One of the things that helped him overcome his many difficulties was his Catholic approach to giving himself to the Lord,” said Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden confidant and former Senate chief of staff.
On a human level, Biden never fully overcame his misgivings about abortion. This is evident even in the language he occasionally uses. Two years ago, speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Biden referred to the procedure as an abortion.”a child” rather than a fetus, a clue as to the point at which he believed life began.
Still, his position is that he will not impose his personal views on Americans who believe differently. In 1974, the year he said in an interview that Roe. v. Wade went “too far,” he also expressed opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, albeit with some ambivalence, a hometown report of the time show.
A column in the Wilmington Morning News in January 1974 said that Biden told a group of anti-abortion activists: “I’m not sure that my position against such a constitutional amendment is right, nor am I sure that the anti-abortion position is right, but right now I think I’m more right than you.”
Lauren Hitt, a campaign spokeswoman, said in a prepared statement: “Joe Biden has opposed abortion bans since the 1970s. As a senator, he voted repeatedly to protect Roe, and as president, he used his full executive authority to react to MAGA’s extreme attacks on reproductive freedom.”
Biden outlined the tensions between faith and politics last year in a Maryland fundraising event.
“I happen to be a practicing Catholic,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of abortion. But guess what? Roe v. Wade got it right.
A look at his history shows that his path has had many starts and stops. As a senator in 1982, he voted at a committee meeting in favor of a constitutional amendment that would have given states the power to restrict abortion if they so desired, effectively overturning Roe v. Wade.
At the time, Biden said his goal was to bring the vote to the Senate floor, where the matter would finally be resolved. The measure never got that far, and when it came up again the following year, he voted against it.
In 2019, as the Democratic front-runner for the presidential nomination, he reversed his long-held position in favor of the so-called Hyde Amendment banning federal funding for abortion.
This turnaround occurred at breakneck speed. One day his campaign said it supported the Hyde Amendment; the next day, amid negative reactions from fellow Democrats, he abandoned that position. He justified the change by saying he could no longer support the policy because Republicans were restricting access to abortion in poor neighborhoods.
“Joe Biden is an Irish Catholic boy from Scranton,” said John Carr, founder of the Initiative on Catholic Life and Social Thought at Georgetown University. “He appears to remain in Catholic orthodoxy until he finds the political or other costs too high.”
Biden recognized from the start that his nuanced stance — wary of abortion at its core, accepting the right to abortion in the public square — was bound to cause him grief. He told fellow Senator Abe Ribicoff of Connecticut in 1973 that his position was unlikely to please anyone, according to his 2007 memoir, “Promises to Keep.”
This proved prescient.
In Biden’s first year as president, conservative Catholic bishops argued that he should not receive communion because of his support for abortion rights. He met privately with Pope Francis at the Vatican in October of that year and later said the Pope had assured him that communion should not be denied.
Kathleen Sebelius, who served as secretary of health and human services under President Barack Obama, said in an interview that she sympathized with Biden’s plight.
“I was born and raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools for 17 years of my life,” said Sebelius, former governor of Kansas. “I understand this problem. I was called by the archbishop. I was ordered not to take communion.
“I’ve been on the personal side and the political side of this, and I understand the struggle that those of us who are raised in a faith community and then live in a political world face,” she added. “It’s not easy. I think Nancy Pelosi [the former House speaker, who is also Catholic] understand it. I think Joe Biden understands this. It’s not a simple choice.”
Whatever Biden’s path, most supporters say they now have full confidence that he is a credible defender of abortion rights. When Biden left the Senate in 2009, he had a 100% rating from what was then called NARAL Pro-Choice America, a group that promotes abortion access.
“Biden is not the same man he was when it comes to abortion rights,” said Ilyse Hogue, the organization’s former president. “I don’t think he’s hiding his agenda just to win a second term and then secretly plans to change and become this anti-choice guy. I’m not worried about that at all.”
Some still don’t believe Biden will go far enough to promote reproductive rights.
Renee Bracey Sherman, founder and co-executive director of We Testify, an abortion rights advocacy group, said Biden should use his megaphone to remove the stigma associated with abortion rather than airing his personal misgivings. She pointed to recent research indicating that 6 in 10 Catholics support the right to abortion.
“He is the president of the United States; he is not the pope of the United States,” Bracey Sherman said. “I’m sorry, he may have his personal feelings. But at the end of the day, he is the president and he must defend the Constitution and the people of this country who need abortion.”
Bracey Sherman said her organization has reached out to the Biden administration several times, offering to bring Catholics who have had abortions to the White House to share their stories — but has yet to hear back.
“He makes it seem like he is the one who follows Catholic teachings,” she said. “But what about the rest of the Catholics in America who support abortion access and have abortions?”
Elections are a choice. Even Biden’s detractors say they are fully aware that the only realistic alternative at this point is Trump, whom they consider an extremist on this issue.
Abortion appears to be one of Trump’s glaring vulnerabilities. He has bragged about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. Wade through the appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court during his single term.
“There is a fundamental question and a fundamental difference between the president and Donald Trump and their belief about whether the Constitution gives women the right to choose. Donald Trump does not; Joe Biden does,” said Kate Berner, a former Biden White House staffer.
Trump recently said abortion decisions should be left up to the states, after he was criticized for being unclear about his beliefs. Still, he sought to dissociate himself from a recent state court ruling in Arizona that upheld a 19th-century law that imposed a near-total ban on abortion.
Repealing Arizona’s strict anti-abortion measure isn’t so easy for Trump. The reason it can go into effect comes directly from the votes of the conservative Supreme Court justices that Trump worked to install.
“The fact is that he announced that he would pack the court with judges who could be counted on to overturn Roe v. Wade. Wade,” said Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. “He achieved this. They did it. This has led to the revival of laws like Arizona’s, even though Trump says, ‘Oops, sorry, this is the consequence. That doesn’t make me look good politically.’”
Biden was at the White House last Sunday, dealing with the fallout from Iran’s attack on Israel. When he is in Washington on the weekends, he often attends services at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, the church attended by the country’s first Catholic president, John F. Kennedy. A Black Lives Matter banner hangs on a fence outside.
Biden was not in the pews that day; he was participating in a virtual meeting with US allies about the Iranian attack.
The Reverend Patrick Earl led the service and then greeted worshipers at the door. He said in an interview that Biden is a “good presence” during services, recalling that he once left his chair to congratulate the family of a boy celebrating his First Communion.
Earl said he understands Biden’s position, even if it conflicts with Church teachings.
“As a political leader of a very diverse country, you can’t just say, ‘You have to believe like I believe,'” he said. “You just can’t.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
