Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar condemned former President Donald Trump for previously supporting abortion bans, despite President Joe Biden supporting restrictions in the past.
Klobuchar said the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, decided in part by three Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices, has been “disastrous” for women across the country.
Trump has proudly claimed responsibility for the Dobbs decision, which he described as a “miracle,” and said during his 2016 campaign that women should be punished for violating abortion bans. He has since said he believes in leaving the issue to the states.
“And now, because of this Republican-appointed Supreme Court, the Dobbs decision, that right is no longer there on a federal basis. And the results have been disastrous,” Klobuchar said Monday — the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade — during an appearance on MSNBC. “You look at what just happened recently where a North Carolina woman seeking reproductive care had to come to Washington D.C. to get an abortion and stay in a homeless shelter. You see 14 states having all-out bans, a number of them limitations, women having to go from state to state looking for care.”
She then urged voters to choose Biden over Trump.
“President Trump, leading in every poll, has in the past said that women should be punished and now, I guess we say to the voters of this country, who would they rather have in? Someone who’s said he supported bans in the past, or someone like Joe Biden who has made it very clear that he wants to codify Roe v. Wade into law and guarantee that women have the right to make their own decisions about their healthcare, and not politicians,” the senator continued.
Klobuchar failed to mention that Biden also “supported bans in the past.”
As a first-term senator, Biden said in 1974 that the Supreme Court went “too far” in defining abortion as a constitutional right, according to the Washington Post.
Biden also voted in favor of multiple pieces of pro-life legislation that imposed restrictions on abortion. He voted in favor of a partial-birth abortion ban in 2003 while serving in the U.S. Senate, according to NBC News. In 1982, he voted for a constitutional amendment that would have bypassed Roe and allowed states to enact abortion restrictions, the outlet noted. The now-president also spent decades supporting the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life.
Biden and Trump have both flip-flopped on their abortion positions. Trump referred to himself as “very pro-choice” despite hating “the concept of abortion” during a 1999 interview with “Meet the Press.” As president, he cut off federal funds to organizations that performed or referred for abortions and became the first chief executive in history to speak in person at the annual March for Life in 2019.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at press briefing in Jan. 2017 that there would be a “heavy administration presence” at the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
Trump called Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ six-week abortion ban “too harsh” after the governor signed the legislation into law in April. The law includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Biden has repeatedly promised to codify Roe v. Wade into law and vowed for the codification to be the first piece of legislation sent through Congress if Democrats won the House after the 2022 midterm elections. In response to a proposed 15-week abortion ban, he pledged to veto any federal abortion restriction in the event one reaches his desk.
Biden’s pro-abortion stance is at odds with the teachings of his faith. The Catechism of the Catholic Church insists that the right to life from conception through natural death “must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority.”