Trump and Biden’s legacies are shaped by abortion. It may help reelection.

“WASHINGTON,” the The most contentious and consequential political issue since the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s is the issue of abortion, which is currently the most prominent political cause of our day.

Following the establishment of the right to abortion by the Supreme Court forty years ago, which was subsequently revoked in 2022, the topic is expected to be the primary motivating factor in the presidential election that will take place this year.

Regardless of who emerges victorious, the legacy of the two main contenders, both of whom are men, will be inextricably linked to a decision that will predominantly have an impact on the lives of women.

In the past, Joe Biden, who is a devout Catholic, has expressed his personal opposition to abortion. He has also stated that the Supreme Court went too far in its ruling about Roe v. Wade, which was made in 1973 and secured a woman’s right to have an abortion. Nevertheless, throughout his entire career in public office, which spans five decades, Biden has put aside his own personal beliefs and advocated for the right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. As the current president, he is in the forefront of efforts to integrate protections for reproductive freedom into the legal framework of the United States.
In a televised interview that took place more than twenty years ago, Donald Trump, who had previously served as president and is currently the presumed nominee of the Republican Party, stated that he was “pro-choice in every respect.” But when he first ran for president in 2016, he courted religious conservatives by expressing his opposition to abortion and even suggesting that women who have abortions illegally need “some sort of punishment.” He did this in order to please religious conservatives. After he took office, he appointed conservative justices to the Supreme Court, which ultimately resulted in the decision that put an end to the Roe v. Wade case.Now that he is running for reelection again, barely four years after losing his quest for reelection to Biden, Trump boasts, “I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade.” However, earlier this week, he infuriated anti-abortion campaigners by stating that individual states should impose their own restrictions on a woman’s freedom to choose. Later, he announced that he would not sign a national abortion ban if he were to be awarded a second term in office.

It is possible that the outcome of the upcoming few months will determine which of the two contenders will be able to successfully traverse the minefield of abortion politics and return to the White House.

“If Biden wins, it is going to cement the importance of abortion rights as an issue to the electorate,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis and an expert on the law, history, and politics of reproductive issues. Ziegler is a resident of Davis.
In the case of Donald Trump, Ziegler stated that “abortion is already a part of his legacy because of the overruling of Roe,” and that “I think he is going to face, if he is elected, really unprecedented questions about what this is going to mean.”

‘More right than you are’

Just as the controversy over abortion was poised to completely transform the political landscape of the United States for decades, Biden joined public service.

Even though he was only 30 years old at the time, Biden was sworn in as the new Democratic senator from Delaware on January 3, 1973. Thirty-three days later, on January 22nd, the Supreme Court issued its decision regarding the Roe v. Wade case.
In the book “Promises to Keep,” which is a memoir written by Joe Biden, he recalls that when he was heading to vote in the Senate for the first time, Senator Abraham Ribicoff, a Democrat from Connecticut, asked him where he stood on the matter. The Vice President of the United States told his new colleague that although he was personally against abortion, he did not believe that he had the authority to force his viewpoint on other people.

A piece of advise from Ribicoff: “Pick a team. You’ll be in a much better position strategically.”

In order to find a happy medium, Biden made the decision. In 1974, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, stating that he believed a woman does not have “the sole right to say what should happen to her body.” He made this statement in an interview with Washingtonian magazine. Nevertheless, in the same year, he conveyed to a group of anti-abortionist supporters that he would not support a constitutional amendment that would prohibit the procedure.

According to an account that was published in the Wilmington Morning News, he stated to the gathering, “I am not sure my stand against such a constitutional amendment is right, nor am I sure the anti-abortionist stand is right.” In spite of this, he stated, “At this moment, I believe that I am more right than you are.”
An author named Joshua Prager, who has written about the history of the abortion movement, stated that Biden’s attitude was not all that exceptional at the time. At the time, abortion had not yet developed into the powerful political weapon that it would eventually become. Furthermore, a number of other prominent Democrats of the century were either indifferent about the subject or completely opposed to the legalization of abortion.

“Abortion was absolutely unrelated to politics for a considerable amount of time. “It was not in any way political or partisan,” said Prager, whose book “The Family Roe: An American Story” followed the life of Norma McCorvey, who was the plaintiff in the lawsuit that led to the famous Roe v. Wade verdict. McCorvey was known as “Jane Doe” in the case.

Throughout his time in the Senate, Biden opposed the majority of initiatives to restrict access to abortions and voiced his opposition to the funding of abortions by the federal government.

He was the originator of what would later be known as the Biden Amendment, which was passed in 1981 and restricted the use of foreign aid for the purpose of conducting biological research on abortion. In addition, he was a constant supporter of a separate legislation known as the Hyde Amendment, which prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions with the exception of situations involving rape, incest, or situations in which the life of the expectant mother was in danger.
Until five years ago, when he was running for president, Biden would not change his view on Hyde. Only then would he change his mind. In spite of the fact that he had instructed his staff the day before to state that he supported the proposal, he made the announcement on June 6, 2019, that he no longer supported it. This decision was made in response to criticism from his fellow Democrats.

It was argued by Biden that the reason for his reversal of sentiment was because Hyde’s constraints would make it difficult for him to fulfill his wish to offer a wide variety of health services to women. The shift in his position, however, was widely interpreted as an acknowledgment of the significance that Democratic voters had grown to place on the issue of abortion rights.

At times, Biden’s approach, which was seen to be middle-of-the-road, resulted in acts that appeared to be contradictory. As an illustration, in the year 1999, he cast his vote in favor of a Republican motion that sought to prohibit a late-term surgery that critics have referred to as “partial birth abortion.” Nevertheless, on the same day, he voted in favor of Democratic legislation that endorsed Roe v. Wade as “an important constitutional right” that ought not to be overturned.

Biden voted to abolish a law that prohibited the use of United States foreign aid to perform or encourage abortions throughout the early 2000s, before he left the Senate to become vice president. This policy had been in place since the early 2000s. Ronald Reagan was the one who initially implemented the so-called “Mexico City Policy,” which was also referred to as a “global gag rule” by those who opposed it. This policy would eventually become the equivalent of a political ping-pong ball. Whether or not it was in force rested on the president’s political affiliation, specifically whether he was a Republican or a Democrat.

During the early stages of his term, Trump reinstated the policy. After only one week in office, Vice President Biden revoked the order.

Trump’s evasions and contradiction

While Trump is running for another term as president, his history on the matter of abortion has been full of evasions and contradictions, some of which are combining to create a big election impediment. Trump is currently campaigning for another term as president.

In the end, the politician who had previously referred to himself as “pro-choice” became the president who did more than anybody else to undermine the rights of women to have abortions. He appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices who would be a part of the majority that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Now that he is attempting to become the first president in more than 125 years to recover the White House after having lost it, Trump is telling Republicans to be “careful” about how they deal with the problem because it has cost them in elections.

In a new strategy that was unveiled in a video that he posted on Monday, Trump is attempting to pander to his anti-abortion supporters by stating that he supports efforts by states to prohibit or restrict the practice of abortion treatment. In addition, he has emphasized the importance of making exceptions in situations like rape, incest, and the protection of the mother.

“The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both,” President Donald Trump stated. It is imperative that whatever they decide becomes the law of the land. At this point, the law of the state is applicable.

A long and winding road

Trump’s approach to abortion has been a meandering and lengthy journey that has been littered with inconsistencies. On numerous occasions, he has shifted his stances regarding the matter.
In 1999, when Trump was considering running for president on the Reform Party ticket, he stated on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “I’m very pro-choice.” This was during a time when he was considering running for president. Abortion is an idea that I abhor greatly. I despise it. Everything it represents is something I abhor. When I hear people argue about the topic, I can’t help but feel uncomfortable. But despite this, I still feel that there is a choice.

The members of anti-abortion organizations voiced their concerns about Trump’s dedication to their cause during his first presidential campaign in 2016, which took place in 2016. An attempt was made by the businessman and television personality of the time to alleviate their concerns by assuring them that he would nominate conservative jurists to the Supreme Court.

Trump has not broken his pledge. Through his appointment of judges Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, he completed the majority that reversed the Roe v. Wade judgement.

The post-Roe era

After the decision in Roe v. Wade was overturned, Republican legislators hurried to pass abortion bans in their respective states. Trump became the one who voiced his worry. As a proof of the issue’s ability to motivate individuals to cast their ballots, he pointed the finger of blame at abortion for Republican losses in the congressional elections of 2022.
Taking into consideration the fact that candidates for abortion rights and referendums have been successful in conservative areas such as Alabama and Kansas, President Trump has cautioned Republicans to exercise caution in the manner in which they debate the topic.

When questioned about a 15-week restriction, Trump avoided answering the question during an appearance on “Meet the Press” in September of this past year. “It could be state or it could be federal,” he explained to reporters. “I don’t frankly care.”

The situation reached a point where some of Trump’s opponents in the Republican primary, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, accused the Republican presidential candidate of softening his stance on matters pertaining to the protection of human life. In retaliation, Trump stated that DeSantis’ proposal to prohibit abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy was a terrible idea.

Trump has also called for a compromise on the issue of abortion, despite the fact that opponents on both sides agree that such a step is extremely unlikely.

“I would sit down with both sides and I’d negotiate something,” Trump told the television program ‘Meet The Press,’ “and we’ll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years.”
Advocates of abortion rights who were skeptical of his statements accused him of saying anything would be politically advantageous to him.

“We all know that Trump cannot be trusted and will say whatever it takes to get back into the White House,” said Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes. “We will speak anything to get back into the White House.” “That includes lying about his support for a national abortion ban.”

‘The power of women in America’

Concurrently, Vice President Biden and the Democratic Party are working to portray Donald Trump as the leader of the push to prohibit abortion.

Shortly after Trump made the announcement that abortion restrictions should be left to the states, Biden’s reelection campaign responded with a digital advertisement that featured a woman who choked back tears as she described how she had suffered a miscarriage and nearly died twice from sepsis due to the fact that doctors in Texas refused to perform an abortion.

Following the conclusion of the video, “Donald Trump did this,”

Democrats were of the opinion that Trump’s distinction between the states and the federal government is irrelevant because he has supported a number of “extreme” state abortion restrictions. Trump, according to Biden and other individuals, is attempting to make people forget the important role he played in overturning Roe v. Wade.

“Donald Trump and all those responsible for overturning Roe don’t have a clue about the power of women in America,” Vice President Joe Biden stated. “However, they are about to learn the truth.”

Since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the subject of abortion has proven to be a winning issue for both Democrats and Republicans at the polls. Another decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Arizona this week, which upheld a prohibition on abortion that has been in place for 160 years, has the potential to further energize people in a state that is anticipated to be a pivotal swing state in the presidential election this year.

The reelection campaign committee for Vice President Joe Biden is making the restoration of abortion rights a primary focus of their campaign. Since Roe v. Wade was overruled, Vice President Biden has taken a number of measures to defend reproductive freedom. These include signing orders to protect access to medication, providing legal assistance to women who choose to travel out of state for the procedure, and expanding coverage for contraception that is provided at no cost.

In March, the White House took the unprecedented step of sending Vice President Kamala Harris to an abortion clinic in Minnesota. The purpose of this visit was to bring attention to the administration’s efforts to protect reproductive rights. Her visit to a clinic that offers abortion services was the very first time that a president or vice president had ever visited such a facility.

Biden also continues to exert pressure on Congress to incorporate the abortion safeguards that were established by Roe v. Wade into federal law. Roe v. Wade was a decision that Biden had previously stated had gone too far.

Biden’s campaign is keen to compare his record to that of Trump, taking into consideration that abortion is once again a crucial issue in the election.

This statement was made by Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. “For more than half a century, Joe Biden has fought to protect Roe v. Wade and women’s right to choose,” Hitt stated. President Donald Trump, on the other hand, has stated that he is pleased with the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and that women should be punished for obtaining an abortion. In the month of November, that is the choice that women must make.

When asked about the confusing history that Trump has with abortion, Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, emphasized that he “has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion.” However, in 2018, Trump advocated for a federal ban on all abortions that occurred beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy. In the year 2023, while addressing a group of religious conservatives, he once more expressed his support for the concept of national abortion limits, although he did not support any particular legislation being proposed.

Whether Biden or Trump is victorious in November, the extent to which they have fought for the right to abortion will play a significant role in how they are regarded in the years to come.