Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago, abortion has become a top campaign issue. Since then, President Biden has vociferously defended the right to choose an abortion and attacked former president Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, for eroding reproductive rights.
It might come as a surprise that Biden once opposed abortion and believed that Roe was wrongly decided. Here is how Biden’s stance on abortion has evolved over the decades.
June 1974: He doesn’t think a woman has ‘the sole right to say what should happen to her body’
I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body.— Profile in "Washingtonian" magazine, June 1, 1974
Just the year before, on Jan. 5, 1973, Biden had been sworn in as a senator. Later that month, the Supreme Court issued its landmark 7-2 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which protected the right to an abortion.
Biden’s personal struggle with the issue of abortion, as a devout Catholic, was evident early on in his political career. In 1974, he said he opposed a constitutional amendment banning abortion, reportedly telling a group of antiabortion activists in January that year that he did not have the right to force his personal or religious views upon others.
However, in one of his first profiles as a young senator, Biden also told Washingtonian magazine that he did not agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe and that he believed women did not have “the sole right” over what should happen to their bodies.
“But when it comes to issues like abortion, amnesty, and acid, I’m about as liberal as your grandmother,” Biden said in the piece published June 1974. “I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far.”
March 1982: He votes with Republicans to allow states to bypass Roe
I’m probably a victim, or a product, however you want to phrase it, of my background.— March 11, 1982
Biden was one of two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote with Republicans in favor of the Hatch Amendment, which would allow Congress and the states to bypass Roe v. Wade and restrict abortion. The amendment, proposed by then-Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), would have declared “that the Constitution does not secure the right to an abortion.”
At the time, Biden cited his Catholic faith and said it was “the single most difficult vote I’ve cast as a U.S. senator.” Despite his supportive vote, Biden expressed reservations about the amendment and said he reserved the right to vote differently on the floor, according to a Morning Call report at the time.
The amendment never received a vote on the Senate floor in 1982. Hatch introduced a similar version of the amendment the following year, but Biden voted against it in 1983.
April 1994: He says those opposed to abortion ‘should not be compelled to pay for them’
… those of us who are opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for them.— April 7, 1994
In a letter to a Delaware constituent — who had written then-Sen. Biden to ask, “Please don’t force me to pay for abortions against my conscience” — Biden emphasized his long history of voting against federal funding of abortions.
“I will continue to abide by the same principle that has guided me throughout my 21 years in the Senate: those of us who are opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for them,” Biden wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NBC News. “As you may know, I have consistently — on no fewer than 50 occasions — voted against federal funding of abortions.”
March 2006: ‘I do not view abortion as a choice and a right’
I’m a little bit of an odd man out in my party … I do not view abortion as a choice and a right.— "Texas Monthly" interview, March 2006
Biden told Texas Monthly in 2006 that he had “made everybody angry” when it came to the issue of abortion, noting that he voted against funding for abortion as well as against restricting a woman’s right to have an abortion under Roe v. Wade.
He said his stance on abortion — which he did not view “as a choice and a right” — made him an “odd man out” in the Democratic Party.
“I think [abortion is] always a tragedy, and I think that it should be rare and safe, and I think we should be focusing on how to limit the number of abortions,” Biden said. “The fact of the matter is, I’ve never known of a woman having an abortion say ‘By the way, I feel like having an abortion.’ It’s always a tragic decision made. Always a difficult decision. And I think we should focus on how to deal with women not wanting abortion.”
April 2007: He calls reconciling abortion policy with his faith ‘the biggest dilemma’
I’m a practicing Catholic, and it is the biggest dilemma for me in terms of comporting my religious and cultural views with my political responsibility.— NBC's "Meet the Press" interview, April 2007
Biden’s internal struggle on the issue of abortion was on display again when in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he spoke about the difficulty of reconciling his faith with his “political responsibility.”
Biden acknowledged that he supported a ban on late-term abortions but said he had changed his mind on the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade.
“Roe v. Wade is as close to where we’re going to be able to get as a society that incorporates the general lines of debate within Christendom, Judaism and other faiths, where it basically says there is a sliding scale relating to viability of a fetus,” Biden said. “It does encompass, I’ve come to conclude, the only means by which — in this heterogeneous society of ours — we can reach some general accommodation on what is a religiously charged and a publicly charged debate.”
October 2012: He says he accepts that ‘life begins at conception,’ but ‘I just refuse to impose that on others’
Life begins at conception. … I just refuse to impose to impose that on others.— Vice presidential debate, October 11, 2012
Biden, who was then Barack Obama’s running mate, sparred with then-Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s running mate, on abortion during a vice-presidential debate. Both Ryan and Biden said they recognized the Catholic Church’s position that life begins at conception. Biden, however, said he did not want to impose that on others.
“That’s the church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life, but I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews. I just refuse to impose that on others,” Biden said.
Biden also noted Ryan had in the past argued that it would still be a crime to have an abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
“I just fundamentally disagree with that,” Biden said.
June 2019: He reverses support for Hyde Amendment
Circumstances have changed.— Speech at DNC's African American Leadership Council summit in Atlanta, June 6, 2019
Biden, a candidate in a crowded Democratic presidential primary, abruptly reversed his decades-long support for the Hyde Amendment, which banned federal funding for abortions.
After days of criticism over his support for the amendment — a sharp contrast with the rest of the Democratic field — Biden announced his change during a speech at the Democratic National Committee’s African American Leadership Council summit in Atlanta.
He told the crowd that in an environment where the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion was under attack in Republican-held states, he could no longer support a policy that limited funding.
“We’ve seen state after state including Georgia passing extreme laws,” Biden said. “It’s clear that these folks are going to stop at nothing to get rid of Roe.”
“Circumstances have changed,” he added.
June 2020: He vows to ‘protect women’s constitutional right to choose’
We will protect women’s constitutional right to choose.— Video remarks to Planned Parenthood Action Fund, June 15, 2020
Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee at this point, is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Action Fund. In recorded remarks, Biden says he is “proud to stand” with the group and vows to protect a woman’s right to choose — though he does not state the word abortion.
“It’s a simple proposition: Health care is a right not dependent on race, gender, income or Zip code. As president, I’m going to do everything in my power to expand access to quality, affordable health care for women, especially women of color,” Biden says in the video. “We will protect women’s constitutional right to choose. I’m proud to stand with you in this fight.”
January 2021: He signs health-care executive orders to ‘undo the damage Trump has done’
Basically, the best way to describe them, [is] to undo the damage Trump has done.— Oval Office remarks, January 28, 2021
Days after taking office as president, Biden signed two executive orders — one to expand access to affordable health care and another to reverse the restrictions on abortion access put in place by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Basically, the best way to describe them, [is] to undo the damage Trump has done,” Biden said, emphasizing that he was not initiating any new laws.
“This is going back to what the situation was prior to [Trump’s] executive order,” Biden said. “And the second order I’m signing relates to protecting women’s health at home and abroad, and it reinstates the changes that were made … making it harder for women to have access to affordable health care as it relates to reproductive rights.”
May 2022: He says the right to choose an abortion is ‘fundamental’
I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.— White House statement, May 3, 2022
In response to the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that suggested the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, Biden issued a statement that emphasized his support for a woman’s “fundamental” right to choose.
Biden noted that he had directed his Gender Policy Council and the White House Counsel’s Office to prepare options for “when any ruling is issued.” If the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe, he added, he called on voters and elected officials “at all levels” to protect the right to choose.
“We will need more pro-choice senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law,” he said.
June 2022: He calls on Congress to codify abortion rights after Supreme Court overturns Roe
This is a sad day for the country.— White House remarks, June 24, 2022
Shortly after the Supreme Court issued a decision that overturned Roe, Biden spoke from the White House, forcefully defending the right to choose an abortion and calling on Congress to codify abortion rights.
“This is a sad day for the country, in my view, but it doesn’t mean the fight’s over,” Biden said. “Let me very clear and unambiguous: The only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose, a balance that existed, is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law.”
Biden declared that, during the upcoming midterm elections, “Roe is on the ballot.”
“Personal freedoms are on the ballot. The right to privacy, liberty, equality — they’re all on the ballot,” he added.
January 2024: He expands contraception, abortion protections through executive orders
I believe Roe v. Wade was right.— White House remarks, January 22, 2024
On what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Biden signed executive orders that would ensure expanded access to contraception, abortion medication and emergency abortions at hospitals.
In remarks at the White House, Biden blasted Republican lawmakers for continuing to push national abortion bans after the Supreme Court had ripped a “fundamental right” away from so many Americans. GOP lawmakers, he noted, were also trying to stop pregnant individuals from traveling to a different state to receive abortion care — or, in the case of one state, threatening to prosecute people who helped family members travel for that reason.
“That means even if you live in a state where the extremist Republicans are not running the show, your right to choose, your right to privacy would still be at risk if this law was passed — any of these were passed nationally,” Biden said. “Folks, this is what it looks like when the right to privacy is under attack. These extreme laws have no place — no place in the United States of America.”
Matt Viser and Colby Itkowitz contributed to this report.
